Mean girl 101
by Int0xicatedSarah
Summary: After Paulina and Sam get into a physical fight at school, their punishment has them working together on a project everyday after school until it's complete. Will they end up killing each other before then, or will they finally set aside their differences? (REWRITE of Mean Girl. Different plot. Middle of the first chapter is different than the other story's.) Slight DxS
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own DP or any of its rightful characters.**

Sam was officially sick of Paulina.

The sassy, shallow, and snobby Latina was even more impudent towards her for reasons that pointed nowhere other than jealousy. This was only evident because before Danny's secret was revealed and before he and Sam became a thing two years prior, she would more often than not pretend that she didn't exist, but afterwards, she started to pick at her every chance that she got.

She just ignored her for the most part, but she knew that her patience was running thin. Paulina made it a daily mission of hers to push or trip her in the hallway at school or steal her clothes during their shared gym class. The latter incident ceased once she stopped putting her clothes in her locker, but she was still highly irritated about having to move her belongings in the first place.

She was always a strong and tough individual, which is why she tried her best to not let the girl's foolish antics and desperate cries for attention get under her skin, but a person could only endure so much before something inside of them snapped. Still, she somehow managed to maintain her composure after each incident and walk away with her head held high.

Except that day.

She was having the roughest morning of her junior year. First, she overslept and was late to school because she forgot to set her alarm clock the night before, and because her parents and her grandmother were out that morning, nobody was around to wake her up. That, and she woke up with painful menstrual cramps.

Then, it started to rain on her way to school. She usually didn't mind rain, but having to rush to school in it and then having to enter the cold building while dripping like a wet rat wasn't exactly her favorite thing to do, especially in the morning.

Paulina harassing her as soon as she stepped into the building is what locked her in a bad mood. She was already feeling a bit insecure that day, so she wasn't in the mood to deal with the snickering, the insults, and the staring that she received from the Latina and her friends.

So, everything unfolded during Mr. Lancer's English class. He had been promoted to an upperclassmen Honors teacher during her sophomore year, which meant that she wasn't able to take his class until her current junior year. She shared the same class period with almost everyone from her Freshman year's class, save for Valerie, who had transferred schools during her sophomore year.

Mr. Lancer was standing near the front board of his classroom, explaining the assignment for the morning to his students. It was a group activity, which was something that Sam hated because she much preferred working solo. She should've liked working with Tucker and Danny, but Tucker was a bit of a pushover and Danny was always either distracted or asleep.

"After you and your group finish reading the passage, answer the six questions on the next page and turn it in on separate sheets of paper," Mr. Lancer instructed, casting a stern glance towards Dash. "Everybody must participate. One person is not allowed to do all of the work."

A few jocks groaned whilst a few nerds blew a short breath of relief. Sam paid them no attention and began doodling on the inside of her sketchbook, waiting for further instructions from Mr. Lancer. She was just in the middle of touching up on the Gothic Angel she had been working on when she felt something lightly hit her neck.

Curious, she glanced behind her, but Tucker and Danny were both oblivious and engaged in their own side conversation. She waited a few seconds to see if one of them would break character and start cracking up, but neither of them budged. Her eyes then panned around the room and towards the corner, where Paulina, Kwan, and Dash were snickering.

"Figures." She looked down and saw a small chunk of an eraser on the floor, which only made her roll her eyes and revert her attention to her drawing. She was certain that Paulina was the culprit because Dash and Kwan eased up on torturing her after Danny's secret was revealed. Sure, they were both still extremely childish, but Paulina definitely took the cake.

"Mr. Fenton, Mr. Foley, Miss Vidal, and Miss Chambers, you're all going to be partnered up for this assignment." Mr. Lancer took a seat at his desk and folded his arms across his chest. "Please, push your desks together. Silently, if you will."

"Score!" Tucker whispered to Danny, who merely smirked in response and stood up to move his desk. Tucker joined him, but not before casting a sympathetic glance towards Sam, who had turned around to stare at him. "Don't feel left out, Sammy. This will all be over before you know it."

She offered him her signature eye roll as a response and spun back around in her seat. Mr. Lancer waited until the first group was settled down and working before he announced the second group. "Mr. Baxter, Miss Sanchez, Miss Snape, and Miss Manson. Second group."

Darn.

Sam clenched her eyelids shut and let a slow sigh trickle from her mouth. She wasn't in the mood to converse with anyone, especially not Paulina. Hopefully the girl would just keep to herself or address any other person in the group besides her, because she truly wasn't in the mood to bicker.

Seeing as how the other three members of her group were already seated together, she gathered her belongings and rose from her desk. Mr. Lancer didn't wait for her to switch seats, as he already started calling out the next group. She was just about to grab her backpack and cross the room when she felt something whack the side of her eye.

She didn't even have to look in Paulina's direction to know that she was the one who threw the eraser at her again. Her obnoxious snickering gave her away, but nonetheless, Sam pretended she was unbothered by the action and lifted up her backpack. Danny and Tucker seemed oblivious to what was happening, so she wasn't about to complain to them.

However, as soon as she sat down at an empty desk and started to push that one against Dash's desk, Paulina flung another chunk of her eraser at her and started cracking up. Something about that titter struck a chord of anger within her, which prompted her to immediately twist her body towards Paulina to fully face her.

"What's the problem?" She spoke so calmly that she surprised herself. If anyone chose to listen in, it would've just sounded like a regular conversation going on between them. Mr. Lancer was speaking over them, so nobody else was aware of their discussion besides their group.

Paulina simply sized her up in disgust. "I don't know. You tell me. You're the one who came over here."

"Because unfortunately, we're partners for this assignment. I really hope all that hairspray you use didn't give you amnesia," Sam retorted. Paulina's mouth dropped and Dash snickered until she flashed him a lethal glare.

"You have no right to talk to me like that, freak. Fenton saved the world. Not you." She then flicked her hair behind her shoulder and sharpened her glare. "I don't owe you even a pinch of respect just because you're shacking up with him."

Sam puffed out her lower lip and raised her shoulders nonchalantly. "That's completely fine. I don't care for your respect."

"Good," Paulina replied, "because you're not getting it. Don't come over here and start something with me that you're not going to finish."

"I'm not trying to start anything with you. Just stop throwing things at me and I'll go back to ignoring you. Simple, right?"

Paulina boldly decided to challenge her by grabbing another pre-ripped chunk of her eraser and chucking it right in the center of her face. Her lips then slid into her signature devious smirk, which only pissed off the girl in front of her. "What are you going to do about it, Goth?"

Sam just glared at her, opting to say nothing this time. She simply connected her desk with Dash's and sorted out her belongings on the surface of it. Paulina smirked, satisfied with the way the Goth appeared defeated.

The remainder of the class period went by smoothly, except for a few indirect snide remarks towards Sam from Paulina. She ignored all of them and focused on finishing her work, though she could slowly feel her anger and frustration building up throughout the period.

After class ended, she stopped by her locker to switch out her textbooks. She was still mildly irritated from what happened back in class, so she didn't bother waiting for Danny and Tucker outside of Mr. Lancer's classroom. She knew she was just going to vent to them about how vile Paulina was, so she chose to spare them for the moment.

Still, they caught up to her about half a minute later, both of them wearing equivalent expressions of confusion. The person who spoke up first was Tucker. "Hey, what gives? You usually wait for us first before going to your locker," he told her.

"Sorry," she apologized, glancing sideways at him and Danny. "I just wanted to get my books while I waited for you guys." She instantly chose to change the subject before they pressed the matter. "How was it working in your group?"

"It would've been great if I didn't have to listen to Tucker hit on Christina and Sarah the whole period," answered Danny, rolling his eyes.

"And it would've been even greater if I didn't have to watch them go all googly-eyed over you," Tucker retorted. "Man, I was so in there until they saw you!"

"Please. You weren't going anywhere even beforethey saw him," Sam replied, smirking. He started to say something, most likely clapping back, but she tuned him out because she saw Paulina advancing towards them. On either side of her were Star and a second girl that Sam had never seen before.

The trio stopped right in front of her, with Paulina moving her hands to her hips and sizing Sam up. "Out of my way, geek. You're blocking the view." She then looked over at Danny and waved, her smirk increasing on her face. "Hi, Danny. How are you? You look really good today."

He awkwardly smiled in response and rubbed his neck, averting his gaze. She winked at him afterwards, and for some reason, that action spiked Sam's anger. She knew that Paulina wasn't just giving him a compliment; she was doing it to spite her.

"I know what you're doing, Paulina." After shutting her locker door, she flashed a cold glare at the cheerleader and brought a hand to her hip. "Just stop."

"Stop what? What am I doing?" Paulina asked, feigning innocence.

"You're trying to get under my skin. Just go somewhere else because I'm really not in the mood for you or your repugnant attitude right now," Sam growled. When Paulina appeared confused, she sighed. "Abhorrent." Still, Paulina was lost, so she rolled her eyes and tried again. "Obnoxious."

Paulina gasped, somehow taken aback by what she was just told. "Did you just call me obnoxious?" she demanded.

"Yeah?" Sam resisted the strong urge to roll her eyes again. "And abhorrent, repugnant—"

Paulina forcefully shoved her against the lockers, abruptly halting her speech. A few people gathered around, some with their phones out to record and others just watching in hopes of a fight. Danny and Tucker both looked completely dumbfounded, neither of them really knowing what to do.

Sam dropped her backpack and her textbook onto the floor and began advancing towards Paulina with her fists ready. "I swear to God—"

"Okay!" Danny quickly intervened, stepping in-between her and Paulina, who failed to flinch. He had Sam back up just a bit, and once he felt like she was at a decent distance, he said, "Let's get out of here."

She nodded, reaching down to retrieve her belongings from the floor. Before her hand could even make contact with her backpack, she heard Paulina say, "We can't all just shack up with a superhero and gain fame off of him the way you did, you know."

Something inside of her snapped at that moment, so instead of ignoring the comment and walking away, she whipped around as fast as lightning and punched Paulina right in her face. As a result, she stumbled backwards into Star, who gasped dramatically as she caught her best friend.

"Oh no she didn't!" Paulina regained her footing and rushed towards Sam, mushing her in the face with one hand whilst pushing her back against the lockers with her other one. Sam turned her face to the side to rid it of Paulina's hand and immediately grabbed onto the cheerleader's hair with both hands, swinging her down and around to the floor.

Right after she slammed the girl to the ground, the crowd of students around them instantly started cheering and egging on the fight. Paulina blindly swung her fist at her, successfully punching her once against the side of her head. She even tugged on Sam's hair afterwards, forcing her head down so that it would be difficult for her to see.

That didn't stop Sam from fighting back, however. She started swinging her fist at where she thought Paulina's face was, and she was successful in punching her there four times. Unfortunately, she couldn't continue, as she felt herself being pulled off of Paulina by two sets of hands.

"Paulina, let go of her hair!" That was Star's voice, coming from next to Paulina. "She's not worth you messing up your manicure!"

"Sam, stop!" That was Danny's voice this time. "Sam." She heard the amount of panic in his tone and stopped fighting without hesitation. She allowed herself to be hauled off of Paulina by both him and Tucker, who were the same ones grabbing at her before.

Dash and Star helped Paulina up, but she tried to shrug both of them off in order to sprint towards Sam. Danny saw this and protectively planted his hands against the wall on either side of Sam, restraining her without touching her.

"Calm down," he said softly, gazing into her eyes. "She's not worth this and you know that." She ignored him and glared right at Paulina, who was no longer trying to fight her way over to them. He saw that she wasn't looking at him and demanded, "Look at me."

She reluctantly obeyed, but only for three seconds before she returned her attention to Paulina. The cheerleader was boldly talking out loud now while smoothing down her hair. "How do you start a fight with me and lose?" she asked, laughing.

Sam, and everyone else who had watched the fight, already knew that Paulina was the one who actually lost, so nobody bothered agreeing with her.

Except for Star.

Sam ignored them and nodded at Danny, signaling to him that it was okay for him to let her go. He looked hesitant, but removed his arms from the sides of her head anyway. Before he or Tucker could say anything or even react to what just happened, Principal Ishiyama marched up to them alongside Mr. Lancer.

"You two," she started, pointing at Sam and Paulina. "My office. Now!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Sam stared at Principal Ishiyama, who was silently sitting across from her with a contemplative expression etched on her face. Sitting next to her at a distance was Paulina, who was impatiently staring at the woman as well.

They were both currently in her office, where she had ordered them to go right after their fight. She had yet to say a word and was just staring at them with her lips pursed. The seconds crawled by; the atmosphere felt more suspenseful than anything as they sat there like perpetrators awaiting the judge's verdict.

Paulina ended up breaking the silence by trying to cajole the principal. "You know, your hair looks very lovely today. What conditioner do you normally use?" she asked, batting her eyelashes. Principal Ishiyama looked unamused, but Sam was visibly annoyed.

"Really, Paulina? She's not Mikey or Nathan. You can't just sweet talk her to get what you want."

"Well, with your looks, I'm not surprised that sweet-talking someone doesn't get you out of situations."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh no, my feelings. They're so hurt."

Principal Ishiyama raised up her hands and exhaled sharply. "Enough, for goodness sake. You both are juniors. You're supposed to be setting an example for the freshman and the sophomore class here at Casper High. We have zero tolerance for fighting. You two should be ashamed of yourselves!"

Sam frowned deeply and moved her hands to her chest. "I know, Principal Ishiyama. Trust me, I know, but it won't happen again," she promised. "I was just having a really rough morning. I wasn't thinking clearly back there."

Principal Ishiyama still didn't look convinced. She just shook her head, which made Paulina chuckle dryly. "And you said mysweet-talking was bad," she murmured, rolling her eyes at Sam.

"But I wasn't sweet-talking her," Sam told her. She realized that she was about to engage in another argument, so she briefly closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. "I'm not usually a violent person. She's said and done a lot of rude things to me in the past and I've never done anything about it, but today just wasn't a good day for me."

Principal Ishiyama sighed. "Whatever the case may be, Miss Manson, fighting is not allowed at this school. There are other ways to resolve your differences that don't involve violence. Your behavior back there is completely inexcusable. Both of yours."

Sam bowed her head, saying nothing. She regretted fighting; not because of Paulina, but because of herself. She let Paulina get the best of her, which is something she told herself she wouldn't do. She felt ashamed, but what happened, happened, and there wasn't anything she could do about it now but face her consequence.

"I understand," she replied apologetically. "What's our punishment, then?"

Principal Ishiyama's lips puckered thoughtfully and she tapped her index fingers together. "I was thinking detention everyday after school for the rest of the week."

Sam nodded in defeat, but Paulina shook her head vigorously and leaned forward in her seat. "I can't do after school detention," she protested. "I have rehearsals for the upcoming talent show everyday after school. I'm going to be singing a song and I'm in charge of putting together my performance."

Sam snorted. "You? Singing? Seems like you're overestimating your own abilities."

"I can sing," Paulina huffed.

"And pigs can fly."

"What talent do you even have?"

"That's none of your business."

"Okay, ladies!" Principal Ishiyama pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. Paulina and Sam both fell silent, watching the woman curiously. She spoke up ten seconds later, motioning towards Sam. "Miss Manson will help you out with that everyday after school until it's complete."

"Miss Manson will do what now?" Sam asked in disbelief. The last thing she wanted to do was help Paulina out in any way, shape, or form. "With all due respect, ma'am, there's absolutely no way I'm doing that. I'd rather have detention everyday after school instead."

"I'd really hate to have to suspend you. The quarter's almost up, so any missed work would ultimately affect your grade," Principal Ishiyama responded.

Sam blinked several times, frowning. "That almost sounds like blackmail."

"I assure you it's not."

"I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I agree with her," Paulina chimed in. "I don't want her helping me with my performance. She's just going to darken the whole thing with her spooky witchcraft nonsense and bad fashion sense. Besides, I already have Star."

"Nobody wants to see a shallow witch parade across the stage and sing terribly about how conceited she is anyway," Sam retorted. She was growing irritated as the seconds passed by. "Helping her with that isn't going to benefit me. If anything, it's a huge waste of time."

Principal Ishiyama's eyebrows rose slightly after watching the two girls before her bicker. "I don't think so. I actually think it'll be a great bonding experience for you two since you argue like you're back in elementary school. Give it a try, Samantha. I know you're creative and talented."

"What would I even help her out with?" asked Sam. "You know, if I happened to agree to this."

"I'm sure you'll come up with something. That's what you both can work on during detention after this," Principal Ishiyama concluded. Sam and Paulina looked like they were about to complain, but as soon as the woman flashed them a stern glare, they decided not to argue with her.

"I guess I'll take that over suspension, but let's get one thing straight, Goth," Paulina started, jabbing her forefinger towards Sam. "You don't get to boss me around or change any of my ideas. You'll just be there because you have to be."

Sam scoffed in response. "That's not my intention. Please, by all means, let your performance crash and burn on its own. I'll be sitting in the front row with some popcorn, watching in amusement."

Principal Ishiyama sighed and snapped her fingers together, calling out for Mr. Lancer. Since he didn't have to teach a class that period, he was available at the moment. He entered the office about seven seconds later, smiling respectfully at her.

"Can you escort these two to detention for the remainder of the day? After school included. They can be free for lunch, but after that, they need to report back to detention," she said. "I'll be calling their parents in the meantime."

"Sure thing," Mr. Lancer replied.

* * *

"Wait, so all you got was detention?" Tucker asked Sam during lunch. She was sitting across from him with her cheek resting against her palm. She wasn't in much of a talking mood, but she knew she had to explain the whole situation to both him and Danny.

"Yeah. Everyday after school, pretty much," she answered. She neglected to tell them what she and Paulina had to do in detention because she didn't think it was all that important. That, and she didn't feel like discussing Paulina or anything to do with her at the moment.

Speaking of the devil, the cheerleader entered the cafeteria just then with Star by her side. She and Sam simultaneously looked over at each other, glaring darkly once their eyes met. They continued staring each other down for several seconds until Danny decided he didn't like that and lightly tugged on Sam's shoulder.

"Don't look at her, Sam," he told her. "You're just going to get mad all over again. Focus on something else." She inhaled deeply, but listened to him and looked away. She already had a bad morning, but it was beginning to turn into a bad day.

"I don't know what came over me back there. She just picked the wrong day to start something with me. Usually I can handle her, but today... I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "Now I'm going to be stuck in detention with her everyday."

"You've done a really good job at ignoring her and her offensive remarks in the past, so just keep doing that," Tucker advised. "If she tries to say something to you in detention, pretend you didn't hear her."

"Ignoring her is no problem for me. I just had a little slip-up earlier. That's all," she assured him. The topic of Paulina irritated her so much that she decided to change the subject before she upset herself further. "Has Skulker tried attacking you again last night?" she asked Danny.

"Yes," he answered. "He's much more persistent now than ever." He flattened his hand and pressed it over the left side of his face, groaning softly. "He wasn't lying when he said he'd never stop hunting me."

"Well, at least you manage to badly bang him up every time you see him," Sam pointed out.

He chuckled at that and timidly shuffled his hand through his hair. "Yeah, but let's not jinx it." They both looked into each other's eyes and started smiling, which caused Tucker to roll his eyes at them.

"Man, I've been third wheeling you two for years. It's time I find a beautiful girl of my own. I feel like I have all this charm and these good looks for nothing. Criminal," he muttered.

Sam was about to respond to him, but the bell rang at that moment, so she let the words die in her mouth. With a deep sigh, she closed her salad container and grabbed her backpack from the table. "Detention, here I come," she murmured.

"Want us to walk you there?" Danny offered.

"Nah, that's okay. I'll see you guys later." She stood up from the lunch table and put on her backpack before walking out of the cafeteria. On her way out, she tossed out her container without looking back.

Detention was the last place on Earth where she wanted to be, especially with Paulina present. Still, she was going to try and heed Tucker's advice by ignoring the girl, but that was going to be difficult after what Principal Ishiyama assigned them to do.

As she arrived to detention, she noticed that she was the first one there, so she took a seat at the very back of the room. She set her bag on the surface of her desk and then exhaled softly. "Okay," she said to herself. "Let's see how detention goes."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you everyone in my review section who took the time out of their day to comment!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Sam's eyes briefly fluttered towards Paulina, who was sitting across the room with someone she currently shared her fifth period class with. They had both been talking since the bell rang for class to begin, but their detention teacher, Mr. Duval, didn't really seem to care.

He was sitting at his desk with his legs propped up on the surface and a magazine nestled in his lap. He was a rather nonchalant teacher; after all, he insisted that he didn't get paid enough to actually watch a bunch of "Juvenile hooligans".

Sam kept herself occupied by reading one of her favorite books. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to pass the time too much. She didn't have enough books on her to busy herself all the way until after school, so she figured she'd just draw when she was finished reading.

She couldn't help but overhear Paulina's conversation, however.

"My papa texted me during lunch and told me I was grounded," she said to the girl beside her, whose name was still a mystery to Sam. "This isn't fair. I didn't even start that stupid fight and I'm the one being punished for it."

Sam rolled her eyes, but said nothing. Instead, she looked down at her book, pretending to read it, but she continued to listen in on their conversation. "How long did you get punished for?" the mystery girl asked.

"A week," Paulina answered. Sam stifled a snort. "It's not fair, Ava. On top of that, Principal Ishiyama said that the loser Goth over there is going to be helping me out with my performance. That's much worse than being grounded."

"Ew. No offense, but your show is going to blow if she so much as even picks out a theme for it," replied Ava. "Is she even getting punished? It seems like it's just you taking all the heat when you're the victim in this situation."

"I know, right? Gosh."

Sam couldn't help but speak up. "For your information, Paulina, being in the same room as you is punishment enough. Secondly, I admit that the fight was my fault, but the argument that caused it was yours. You started with me and you know that."

Paulina instantly became defensive. "What did I start?" she demanded, twisting around in her seat to face Sam. "I was just talking to Danny and then you butted in our conversation because you felt jealous of me."

"Jealous? What do you have for me to be jealous of?"

"Everything."

"Wrong answer. Nothing," Sam corrected. She could feel her face growing hot, but she tried to keep her voice as calm as possible because she knew she was getting angry again. "You're shallow, conceited, and rude. There's no way in the pits of hell that I'd ever be jealous of someone like you."

Paulina slightly leaned forward in her seat and laughed bitterly. "The same exact thing could be said in regards to you. Why are you in our conversation anyway? Last time I checked, we weren't talking to you."

"Yeah, but you're talking around me, which is pretty much the same thing."

"But no one was talking toyou. You started this argument with her, which is funny because you were just whining about her starting that earlier argument between you two," Ava said to Sam. "If you never said anything, neither of you would be having this conversation right now."

Sam snorted. "What are you, her lawyer?" She raised her hands a little and glanced down at her book. "Forget it. I'm dismissing myself from this unpleasant discussion. Carry on."

Paulina growled and quickly rose from her seat, not necessarily in a threatening manner. "That's it. I don't want to work on anything with you or even be in the same room as you. I'll gladly accept any other consequence."

"Great! We've reached some common ground. I like this character development already," was Sam's sarcastic response. She moved her eyes from her book to the door just as Principal Ishiyama entered the room. The woman glanced around, but stared at both her and Paulina in particular.

Mr. Duval straightened up immediately and tossed his magazine on the floor underneath his desk. Paulina shuffled towards Principal Ishiyama and put her hands together in a pleading manner. "I can't do this!" she exclaimed. "I refuse to work with her on my performance. She's way too aggravating. Please don't make me do this."

"Yeah, well, having to watch you sing and dance around the room is going to be no picnic for me either," Sam retorted.

Mr. Duval cleared his throat, casually sliding into the conversation. "They've been arguing in here like an old married couple," he informed the principal, who exhaled sharply and looked at the girls with disappointment.

"Before you say anything, ma'am," Paulina began, ready to state her case, "I was just talking to Ava when Manson interrupted us. She was being rude and nasty about the fight earlier when we weren't even talking about that. We're completely innocent. She's not."

"I didn't rudely interrupt anyone!" Sam angrily stood up as well and made a beeline for Principal Ishiyama, crossing her arms. "I'll take any other punishment than the weird one you gave me. This is my first offense, so why do I have to suffer with her? Not everyone is going to like each other, ma'am."

"And I'm never going to like her, so you might as well just cancel this whole punishment thing because she's banned from helping me with my performance," Paulina replied.

"Okay, how about this? Both of you are going to participate in the talent show together. Same performance, same everything," Principal Ishiyama pitched. "And Miss Sanchez, before you object, that's the only way you're allowed to perform."

"But I don't want to perform anything with her!" both girls chorused, pointing at each other whilst gaping.

"Tough." Principal Ishiyama shook her head and stared down the two teenagers before her. "Honestly, ladies, what has gotten into you two? Whatever happened between you in the past is none of my business, but you should really set aside your differences."

"There's no differences. We just don't like each other," Paulina grumbled.

"Well, hopefully that changes after you guys work together on this so called 'performance'. Now, this discussion is over," Principal Ishiyama concluded. "Good luck. I can't wait to be front and center for the lovely show you two are going to put on. Hopefully it's about positivity and kindness."

Sam frowned and spread her arms outward. "But..."

"And hopefully you two are sitting on separate sides of the classroom while behaving when I come back to check on you," the woman continued. Paulina and Sam shared an equivalent look of defeat before sighing and nodding respectfully.

Once the principal was out of the room, Paulina scowled and harshly bumped her shoulder against Sam's. "This isn't over, freak," she snarled before marching back to her seat. Sam ran a hand through her hair and silently moved back to her own seat.

She rooted herself to her chair for the remainder of the day, save for going to the restroom. Ava left when the bell rang, as she was only supposed to be there for one class period. The final bell of the day sounded just then, meaning everyone was able to go home and be free.

Well, except for Paulina and Sam.

Paulina was quiet after Ava left; she chose to busy herself by reading a magazine the way Mr. Duval was doing. Sam, on the other hand, decided to take a nap to pass time. Detention was very tedious to her and she failed to see why some of the A-listers loved going there so much.

She was awoken by someone shaking her shoulder. Groggily, she lifted her head from her arms and looked over to see who the culprit was. To her surprise, Danny and Tucker were standing there. She sat all the way up in her seat and flashed the pair before her a look of confusion.

"What are you guys doing here? How did you get in?" she questioned. She searched around the room, noting that Mr. Duval was still reading his magazines and that Paulina was no longer in there. "Wait, where did Paulina go?" she asked.

"Mr. Duval said she stepped out for a break," Tucker responded. "He let us in here, but we can't stay too long."

"We just swung by to check on you, sleepyhead," Danny told her, smoothing down her slightly messed up hair. "It kind of sucks that we have to go to the arcade without you. That's usually our main after school activity."

"How do you think I feel? I'd rather be there with you guys than sitting here and doing absolutely nothing, but a punishment is a punishment," she murmured. "Detention has been pure hell for me so far."

"Aw, it can't be that bad, Sammy," Tucker said, smirking. "Just keep your distance and your words to yourself and you'll be set."

"Like I haven't already tried that." She shifted in her seat and pouted. "She's a very petty person." Danny and Tucker briefly looked towards each other before shrugging. "Anyway, I should be out of here in about an hour or so," she informed them.

"Then we'll meet you at Danny's," Tucker replied.

"Wrong. I'm pretty sure Principal Ishiyama called my parents, so I'm going straight home after detention. Sorry, ladies."

Danny frowned. "Dang. That's really gotta suck. Think they'll get mad and ground you for what happened back there?" he asked her.

"You'd better believe it. My family is strict on no violence. I'll get grounded for at least a month and will be forced to write an apology letter to Paulina or something," she grumbled. That last part certainly wasn't going to happen. "Whatever. I'll manage."

Paulina entered the room at that moment. Surprisingly, when she saw Danny, she simply looked away and took her original seat instead of throwing herself onto him. Sam was a little thankful for that, but she didn't think too much about it.

"Well, we're going to head out now. Call me later and tell me what happens with your parents, if anything," Danny said. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head while Tucker lightly clapped her twice on the shoulder. She watched them go, and once they were out of the room, she lowered her head back down onto her folded arms.

She was just beginning to doze off again when she felt something whack her on the side of her head. Curious, she peeked open an eye and looked to the floor, where a paper ball was now sitting. Since Paulina was the only one in the room with her besides Mr. Duval, she guessed that it was the shallow witch who threw it.

"See? I didn't start this. You did. You're throwing paper balls at me," she told her, glaring directly at her.

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist," Paulina replied. "I threw it on purpose to get your attention."

"Calling people by their name works too, you know."

"I wanted to address a few things about the performance," the girl continued, ignoring Sam completely. She got up from her seat and moved to another one that was closer. "I was planning on winning the talent show with first place, and since I unfortunately need you to enter, we need to plan out a killer performance."

"Okay, well, I know some amazing card tricks. Or— and hear me out— come up with a bomb cheerleading routine and perform that," Sam suggested. "Then, tell Principal Ishiyama that I helped you choreograph it. See? We don't have to be caught on stage together."

"But she said same stage and same performance, you idiot," Paulina pointed out, rolling her eyes. "I was going into the talent show singing and dancing, so you're doing the same thing."

Sam snorted. "Like hell I am."

"Just hear me out. I'm one of the most popular girls in school and you're surprisingly Danny Phantom's girlfriend, right? If we collaborated, our show would be the most iconic one yet. We could win first place. Our fight was the perfect promotion."

"But why do we have to sing and dance and all that overrated crap? Shouldn't we do something more unique?"

"No, because singing and dancing are the highlights of talent shows. Besides, I've planned on doing this for months. I'm not giving all this up for some stupid card tricks," Paulina concluded.

Sam narrowed her eyes at the cheerleader and scoffed. "I don't sing, Paulina. I don't dance. Besides, I thought you didn't want me to darken your whole performance with my 'spooky witchcraft and bad fashion sense'."

"I still don't, but now I have no choice but to include you in my performance." Paulina started tapping her finger against her desk with a frown. "Listen, I'm a performer, Goth, and I'm sure that deep down— like, way deep down, you're a performer too. Definitely not a dancer, but I somewhat see you singing."

Sam shook her head slowly. "I don't know."

"It'll help you get known as someone other than Danny Phantom's girlfriend," Paulina persuaded. She turned her gaze to her nails and began studying them. "It'll make Principal Ishiyama happy, it'll be fun, and then we can never speak to each other again afterwards."

Sam liked the last part of that sentence, so she considered the deal. She hummed for several seconds before raising a finger. "I only have two conditions. No dancing for me, and I get to pick the song."

Paulina's expression sank. "What? No. No freaking way," she objected, but Sam shrugged and looked away, pretending to give up. "Okay, fine, but that's it. This is mainly my performance, so nothing that involves screaming or head banging are allowed. Also, no Gothic lyrics."

"Okay," Sam agreed, holding out her hand, "deal."

Paulina glared at her hand with disgust before hesitantly shaking it. "I feel like I'm going to regret this, but deal."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"So? What do you think?" Paulina asked the next day whilst posing before Sam, who was sitting at a desk in front of her. She had just finished showcasing her performance idea to the Goth and was now awaiting her opinion.

"Uh," Sam drawled, slowly stroking her chin. "You wrote that song yourself?"

"Duh. The instrumental is mine too," Paulina answered proudly. She flicked her hair behind her shoulders and planted her hands on her hips. "The choreography is the next part I was working on, but I was doing that with Star."

Sam pursed her lips and was quiet for a long minute. "Okay," she finally responded. "Can I see the lyrics? I just have a bit of constructive criticism to offer."

Paulina rolled her eyes a bit, but went over to her backpack anyway. She pulled out a green marble journal a few seconds after digging around in the bag and then handed it to Sam. "The lyrics start on the seventh page," she informed her. "Just keep flipping. It's written in blue ink."

Sam accepted the journal and did as she was instructed to do. She found the lyrics exactly on the seventh page and began reading them, trying her best not to cringe whilst doing so. "It's all about me. Yeah, I shut the show down. No girl stands a chance when Paulina comes around," she read aloud.

"Yeah, I shut the show down," Paulina sang, prancing around a bit. "Down, down, down. I shut it down."

Sam disregarded her and continued reading the lyrics to herself, shaking her head disapprovingly. "Paulina, I love the instrumental and I'm willing to tolerate it, but these lyrics are absolutely terrible. Well, they're in character for you, so I understand why it's awful."

"What's wrong with my song?" Paulina huffed, now on the defensive.

"What's not wrong with it? This looks like something someone in middle school would write," Sam admitted. "Look, confidence is one thing, but conceitedness is a whole other one. Dedicating an entire song to how gorgeous and above everyone else you think you are is a bit much."

"Oh really? Do you have any better ideas?" Paulina asked.

Sam brought her fingers to her lips and hummed thoughtfully. There were a lot of different ideas flowing through her head, but none of them were something Paulina would be interested in. They were polar opposites, so deciding on a song was going to be a difficult task.

"Wait. I have an idea." When Paulina groaned, Sam quickly held out her hands and shook her head. "No, no, a good idea," she assured the girl. "How about we split the song? Like, I want it to be about everyone being different and unique and you want it to be all about you."

"Uh, yes. I'm the star, but I'm not really following you," Paulina responded. "Are you telling me to change my lyrics?"

Sam slapped her forehead and sighed in annoyance. "No, genius. I'm saying I'll add my own lyrics into the song and then we'll alternate between mine and yours," she explained. "We can start the performance on separate sides of the stage and then merge together towards the end."

"No. We're not standing side by side on the stage. I still won't be caught dead with you."

"How? We're performing together," Sam pointed out. Paulina frowned, realizing that she was right. "Our performance can be sort of like a battle. I'll be on one side singing about how we're all unique and you'll be on the other side singing about how superior you are. We'll take turns singing, of course."

Paulina nodded her head slowly. "Okay?"

"You'll 'realize' I'm right about everyone being unique towards the end of our performance and then we'll join each other on the middle of the stage. After that, we'll sing the finale together, but I'm writing the lyrics to that part."

"Okay, okay." Paulina waved her hand dismissively and looked away. "Write the lyrics first so we can rehearse it with my instrumental. We'll get into the choreography and all that other crap afterwards."

"Fine with me," Sam agreed. She closed the green marble journal and handed it back to Paulina, who tucked it into her backpack. She then stared at Sam expectantly, waiting for her to start writing the lyrics. "What? I'm not writing it here in front of you," Sam told her.

"Why not? Is your singing really as awful as your dancing is?" wondered Paulina.

"I'm just not going to write it or sing it in front of you," Sam answered. "When it's ready, I'll let you know."

"Okay, but you do know that it's Wednesday and the show's next Friday, right?"

Sam frowned because she actually didn't know that, but then she shrugged. "I'll knock this out in time. Don't worry. In the meantime, we can go over your part since you seem to have it done already."

Paulina nodded eagerly and rose to her feet. "Finally. We should've started this during detention yesterday."

Sam noticed that Paulina was only nice to her when they were both doing something she wanted to do. Whenever they discussed doing something else, she was either laconic or dismissive towards it.

She decided to let the princess have her way, allowing her to show off her dancing skills and her vocals. She wasn't half bad, but Sam wished she would do something more productive with her talent that didn't involve flaunting it around.

Detention let out exactly an hour later. They both went their separate ways, which was awkward for Sam because outside of detention, they refused to speak to each other, but inside of it, they were almost like partners. They didn't say a word to each other otherwise, nor did they even glance at each other.

She arrived home about fifteen minutes later. She regretted going home because her parents weren't there the day before, as they went out of town. They just got back that day, so she was certain they were going to scold her for her actions the day before.

She was correct; they were waiting for her as soon as she entered the house. "Samantha Elizabeth Manson!" her father, Jeremy, exclaimed, tapping his foot angrily. She sighed and brushed past him, heading for the staircase. "What's this I hear about you engaging in a physical altercation with one of your classmates?"

"Nothing," she answered, briskly moving up the steps. "Nothing at all."

"You march your behind right back over here, missy!" ordered Pamela, her mother. "You will not walk off like that when you're being addressed!"

Sam stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around, but she failed to return to her original spot by the door. Jeremy crossed his arms and took a few steps forward, stopping just before the staircase. "Answer me, young lady," he demanded.

"It's nothing, dad. Some girl at school kept picking at me, so I retaliated. The end," she explained briefly, turning on her heels and walking up the stairs again. "I'm tired. I'll talk later." She didn't feel like putting up with her parents at the moment, so she chose to retreat to her bedroom.

"We are not a fighting family! We do not condone violence in any way, shape, or form," Pamela reminded her, scowling with disappointment at her daughter. She followed her up the stairs, but Sam had already reached her room and slammed her door.

"You're grounded for a week, young lady," Jeremy informed her, following after Pamela. "No electronics, no going out, and no seeing that Fenton boy!"

"Yeah, okay," Sam grumbled from her bedroom. They continued scolding her through the door, but she ignored them and fell onto her bed with an exhausted sigh. They stopped yelling at her five minutes later and went downstairs, finally leaving her alone.

Or so she thought.

"Well, they said you couldn't see Fenton, not Phantom," Danny said from beside her, scaring the absolute daylights out of her. She jumped back and stared wide-eyed at him, but then she exhaled in relief once she realized who he was.

"You should really start announcing yourself. I can't believe I didn't feel the chill in here. You nearly gave me a heart attack," she whispered. "Wait, were you just eavesdropping on me?"

"No," Danny replied, "I wasn't. I was swinging by to check if you were here because someone forgot to inform me that she got home safely."

Sam smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that. In my defense, I just got home. That, and my parents threw a fit as soon as I stepped into the house," she explained. "How much of the argument did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you can't come to the arcade with me and Tucker tomorrow," answered Danny. He sat beside her on the bed, still in his Phantom form. "By the way, how was detention today?"

She chose not to tell him too much about detention because that would've involved her having to tell him all about her upcoming talent show performance with Paulina, and that would've been a long explanation that she wasn't in the mood to give him.

"It was okay. Paulina's somewhat behaving now," she told him, kicking off her shoes. "Well, she's still evil and shallow, but she's been behaving physically. Verbally, not so much. That girl sure can talk about one person for hours."

"It's nothing you can't handle though, so no worries. After this week, your punishment will be up and you won't have to suffer through detention with her anymore," Danny said.

She frowned, knowing that she was actually going to have to put up with Paulina a little longer than he was aware of. "Yeah," she replied, "hopefully."

His ghost sense went off before he could say anything else. He deadpanned instantly and stood up from the bed. "I'll bet that's Skulker again," he murmured to himself. Turning to Sam, he said, "I'm going to go handle this and then head home. I unfortunately have a project to tend to."

"At least you're doing it the night before it's due instead of the morning it's due," she responded with a small smile. He chuckled softly and nodded in agreement.

"True. I won't say goodnight just yet. I have a feeling I'll pop in later tonight after I finish my project."

"Wear a bell around your neck this time," quipped Sam.

"Oh, ha-ha." Danny stepped forward and kissed her once on the forehead before pecking her tenderly on the lips. She grinned and then watched as he flew upward and phased through her ceiling.

It was still early, only being quarter to five, so rather than take a nap, she decided to get started on her role in Paulina's song. Part of her was still resenting the whole performance, but another part of her was a bit curious as to how it would play out.

She found her favorite purple journal and grabbed a nearby pen before sitting on her bed once again. "Okay, Sam," she quietly said to herself, positioning her pen on the blank paper. "Time to get started."


	5. Chapter 5

**Responding to some of my awesome reviewers:**

PhantomJedi240: Thank you for reviewing! I like reading your reviews.

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kaylinandreaxxo: Aw thank you.

dana: hahaha. yea, they do argue like siblings. they're like me and my sister. :)

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Guest: To the sweet guest that said "Ok this story is so good". Thank you sm for liking it!

Reminder: If you don't like, don't read. Thanks again!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**(The next day: after school)**

"What!" Star shrieked, gaping incredulously at Paulina. The cheerleader had just briefed her best friend in on everything going on with her, the talent show, Sam, and Principal Ishiyama. Long story short, she wasn't handling the situation well.

"I know!" Paulina huffed. "Unfortunately, I can't perform without her, so me and the loser are going to have to stick together until Friday night."

Ava rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest. "Dang. That blows," she remarked bitterly. "She beat you in a fight, embarrassed you in front of the entire school, stole Phantom from you, and now she's going to ruin your performance. I hate to say this, but she's dominating you."

"Like hell she is!" Paulina snapped, but deep down inside, she felt like her friend was right. In her opinion, Sam was sneaky. She could start a situation and then manipulate her way out of it whilst simultaneously making herself look like the victim.

It pissed her off.

"There might just be a way for you to get back at her," Ava responded, smirking deviously. Paulina's eyebrows rose as curiosity got the best of her. "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. All you have to do is be cordial with her and get her to warm up to you. Then, you swoop in and steal Danny from her."

Paulina thought that idea over for half a minute before grinning in approval. "That's actually brilliant. I like that." She felt like that was the perfect revenge for everything Sam had put her through. The Goth stole Danny from her, so she was going to casually swing by and steal him back.

"Thank you. I know," Ava replied, her smirk increasing into a broad smile. "Just make her think you actually want to be her friend because in order to gain access to Danny, you have to get through to her. Good luck though, because talking to her is like talking to a brick wall."

"Yeah, but she's not going to let her guard down around you just because you're both working on the same project," Star chimed in. "She's not going to trust you right off the bat, so try opening up to her first so she can see that it's okay for her to open up to you too."

"Good idea, Star," Ava complimented. She turned to look at Paulina while retaining her devious little smile. "Once you get all buddy buddy with her and Danny, bring him on stage during your performance and kiss him. There's no way he'll be able to resist that. Teenage hormones are way too strong."

"Please. I know firsthand how to steal a guy away from his girlfriend. The only hard part in this is pretending to be her friend," Paulina told the two girls before her. She then closed her eyes and slid her hand through her hair. "Then again, I'm not labeled the best actress in Casper High for no reason."

Ava began rubbing her hands together like a villain. "Now I really can't wait for the talent show. Me and Star will be sitting in the front row with our phones out to record that moment."

"Actually, Principal Ishiyama has the front row, so you guys might want to find a new spot," Paulina replied.

Ava nodded, but before she could respond, Star cut in. "Wait. Am I still doing the choreography with you?" she asked, but Paulina shook her head. "Wow. Now I really want to see Manson crash and burn just for stealing my spot. Can she even sing?"

"Nope. That's why I let her have a part in my song," Paulina answered. "I'll have her sing first so that when I outshine her with my singing, Danny will come running to me. She'll die of embarrassment, so make sure you record that."

"Oh, for sure," Ava laughed. "This will be the best revenge scheme ever. I'm calling it now."

Star glanced down at her phone and then looked over at Ava. "We should get going before the mall gets packed," she told her before turning towards Paulina. "We'll pick you up after detention."

Paulina nodded and watched her friends walk briskly down the hallway. Once they were out of sight, she shuffled over to the detention room and entered through the door. She immediately spotted Sam sitting at a desk in the corner with her head down.

"Time to get up, loser," she said as she started approaching the Goth girl. She quickly remembered that she was supposed to be on her best behavior, so she backpedaled. "I mean, only losers sit in the corner, so come to a center seat."

Sam narrowed her eyes, but gathered her belongings anyway. "Since when do you care where I sit?" she asked as she moved to a desk in the middle of the room.

"Since you became my partner for the performance," Paulina replied, smiling a bit. She set her backpack down on a random desk and continued walking over to Sam. "All right, so have you started on your lyrics? We have the whole auditorium to ourselves on Monday so we can rehearse."

Sam dug around in her backpack and pulled out her journal, flipping it open. "I stayed up all night to work on this because I wanted to get it over with. I'm still revising some of the lyrics though," she explained.

Paulina took the journal and skimmed over the lyrics, not necessarily caring what Sam had written down. She then put the journal down on the desk and pulled out her cell phone. "Okay. I'm going to see how it fits with the instrumental," she informed her.

She could tell Sam felt awkward about that, as the girl frowned and averted her gaze. She paid no attention to her and started up the instrumental, humming the lyrics as it played on. She thought it was pretty catchy, at least for someone like Sam, so she accepted it.

"That got done a lot faster than I thought," she murmured. She locked her phone and tucked it back into her pocket before clasping her hands together. "Let's walk through the performance from the beginning to the middle so we can figure out the ending."

Sam shrugged and nodded simultaneously as she stood up. "What are we supposed to do? Performances aren't really my thing as much as they are yours, so I don't even know where to begin."

Paulina forced a smile upon her face and pulled her hands to her hips. "Well, I was thinking that you should open up the performance," she said. Sam blinked. "I just don't want the spotlight that soon, so you should have the first part."

She smiled when Sam agreed, though it was done hesitantly. She just knew her plan was going to work because she was a great manipulator and schemer. Sam was definitely going to be hard to crack, but that was okay because Paulina liked challenges.

"Are your friends coming to the show?" she inquired. She was mainly asking because she wanted to know if Danny was coming, but she didn't want to solely put his name out there like that and rub Sam the wrong way.

"Uh, not that I know of, no. I mean, they would if they knew I was performing," she answered coolly. "I still haven't told them about all this yet. I kind of wanted it to be a surprise, but—"

"You should tell them," Paulina interjected. When Sam rose an eyebrow, she quickly added, "I was thinking we include them in our performance. We can have all the A-listers on my side representing me and all your little friends on your side representing you. Then, when we merge together, they'll merge with us too."

She was pretty much lying through her teeth. She was only trying to get Danny on the stage somehow so her plan could play out the way she wanted it to. Sam looked like she was considering it, which made her mentally cross her fingers.

"I guess that's not a bad idea. I actually like it." Sam started to smirk as she continued thinking about that idea. "Of course, I'll have to recruit other people who are at the bottom of the social ladder because I only have me, Danny, and Tucker in mind so far."

Paulina grinned. "Perfect," she remarked, "so that'll be our finale." She wanted to ask if Danny should be on her side instead because he was technically considered popular now, but she figured it wouldn't matter because thanks to Ava's plan, he was going to end up on her side anyway.

"So, back to the performance. How should I open it up?" Sam asked her.

She brought her index finger to her lips and hummed contemplatively. Quite frankly, she didn't care how Sam chose to open the show because she was going to be the main one shining, but of course, she couldn't say that.

"Well, what suggestions did you have in mind?" she countered, raising an eyebrow.

Sam shrugged nonchalantly. "I honestly don't care. I'm just trying to get this over with here."

Paulina was right about to tell her to lose the attitude because hers could be much bigger, but flashbacks of her conversation with Star and Ava flashed through her head. She remembered that she had to be cordial and get Sam to warm up to her, so she mentally kicked herself.

"You know, I'm actually trying to be nice to you," she started, frowning deeply. "We already fought. We don't have to keep arguing and fighting." Sam's hard expression softened a bit, but her body language remained closed off. Paulina sat on a desk, glancing over at Mr. Duval for approval. He shrugged.

"I'm not trying to be rude or disrespectful, but how else do you expect me to act towards you? We're not exactly friends, even if we're stuck working with each other," was Sam's response.

"I know, Goth— well, Sam," Paulina corrected. Sam's face screwed up, like she was actually disgusted to be called that name by her of all people. "You have every right to feel that way, but I'm just letting you know that I'm done fighting and arguing with you. I'm moving forward."

Sam simply stared at her for a long minute before looking away with a sigh. "Actions speak much louder than words, Paulina. I can't just trust you like that, especially after our past history. It'll take some time, but for the sake of this whole talent show fiasco, I'll play nice."

Paulina inwardly rolled her eyes; that response was good enough for her. "I suppose," she replied. "So, I was thinking that you open up the show by lying on the stage and singing into a microphone because your part starts off slow. By the time the beat picks up, it'll be my part."

Again, Sam shrugged. "That's fine with me, I guess," she said. "I'm not really worried about what I'm going to be doing as far as body movements and such."

"You should be. Stage presence is key. The audience would prefer to watch someone who's confident and moving around the stage than someone who's shy and standing there stiffly throughout the entire thing."

"I get that. I'm sure I'll come up with something the day of the show, but until then, I'm chilling." Sam crossed her arms and leaned her head to the side. "I don't normally follow rules, so I think I'll pass on the choreography and settle for something that comes naturally to me."

"Ava was right. This is like talking to a brick wall," Paulina said quietly to herself. It was so quiet that Sam didn't even notice she said something. "It's whatever you want to do. I'm not forcing you to do anything."

She refused to be Sam's crutch; if the girl wanted to blow her half of the performance, then that was all on her. That would only put Paulina at the top whilst making Danny come running to her, so she was willing to let the girl take one for the team.

Detention ended a little earlier than she expected it to,but she had no complaint about it. True to her word, Star picked her up fifteen minutes after she texted her and Ava that she was done with detention. They had already went shopping, so they were taking Paulina over to the Nasty Burger with them.

"So? How'd it go?" Ava asked, leaning forward in her seat to stare at Paulina. She was forced to move to the backseat, as Star reserved the passenger seat for Paulina and Paulina only when the cheerleader was present.

"She's not warming up to me as quickly as I thought she would, but I'm getting there," Paulina reported. "She's still holding a grudge from everything I've said and done to her in the past. I'm not going to apologize from my heart, especially when we're just going to go back to hating each other after the show."

"Yeah," Ava drawled. "Apologizing is for losers. Don't do it because after you snatch Fenton from her, it'll all be for no reason. Just keep pretending to be friendly with her until she starts opening up to you."

Star said nothing and continued driving. Paulina turned her gaze out the window and watched as the buildings passed by. "I'm Paulina Sanchez, Ava. I already know what to do. Don't worry," she assured her friend.

Ava snorted. "Okay. Markell Rodriguez is going around and showing everyone the video of Manson beating you up," she informed Paulina, who growled.

"For the last time, that geek didn't beat me up. She just caught me off guard and gained the upper hand on me," she defended, though she was fully aware that she had lost the fight. She wasn't about to admit that though, so she insisted on the contrary.

The more she heard that, however, she became angrier. It was like Sam was getting recognition and props for winning the fight, which only made Paulina want to carry out her revenge scheme even more. She wanted to humiliate Sam in front of everyone the same way she was humiliated.

Oh, she was going to make sure of that.

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**Author's note: So, do you think Ava is a good influence on Paulina? Was she wrong for her devious plan against Sam? Thanks for reading.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**(Next afternoon: Friday- during lunch at school)**

Tucker raised his hands in front of him and lifted his eyebrows questionably. "Wait, you want us to do what?" he asked Sam.

She had just finished explaining everything pertaining to the talent show to both him and Danny. Somehow, they were still puzzled about the situation and kept asking her for extra details. Because she was patient, she answered all of their questions cooperatively.

"I want you guys to join me on stage for the talent show," she repeated. "The theme is pretty much the popular people versus the outcasts. Our groups will be merging together at the end to show that we're all the same and that it's okay to be different."

Tucker scratched his head. "That definitely doesn't sound like something Paulina would come up with. She'd want to steal the show, and that doesn't sound like a way for her to do it," he replied.

"Actually, this was somewhat my idea, but she agreed to it," Sam said, shrugging. She absently forked around her salad before continuing. "I said I wanted my part of the song to be about everyone being different and she wanted hers to be all about her, so that was our compromise. The whole jocks versus unpopular kids was her idea."

"That sort of makes sense," Tucker murmured. He then grinned and rubbed his hands together almost greedily. "I'm not sure how, but I feel like this whole show business will finally land me somewhere with a beautiful girl."

Sam ignored his remark and smiled hopefully at him. "So you'll do it?" she wondered.

"Heck yeah. I'm down." He looked over at Danny and asked, "What about you?"

"I don't see why not, but since when could you sing?" he inquired, staring right at Sam. He looked genuinely stumped because he knew almost everything about her except for that piece of information. Tucker now looked curious as well.

She blushed and raised her shoulders. "I'm not that good," she told him quickly. "Principal Ishiyama just wanted me to perform with Paulina and you know how strict she is about singing. I just went along with it."

She was always secretive about her singing because it was a talent that she chose to keep to herself. She didn't feel like it was something she needed to brag about, so it remained a hidden talent. Though she was pretty confident in her voice, she pretended she was a bad singer so that she could surprise her boys with the contrary.

"Oh," Danny drawled, chuckling twice. "I was about to say. I knew singing wasn't your thing, so I was surprised that you actually agreed to it."

"Yeah. By the way, what are we supposed to do on stage?" Tucker asked.

"Whatever you deem natural," answered Sam. "I don't care what you do, but Paulina's the complete opposite. She wants our stage presence to be on point."

"I'm sure we'll come up with something. Was she behaving yesterday?" asked Danny.

Her expression shifted to that of a grimace. "She said she was done fighting with me and that she was going to be nicer to me. That, and she called me Sam. Not Goth, freak, geek, or loser. Sam."

Tucker frowned. "Yep. That's definitely a trap. Run for your life while you still can."

"Do you think maybe she's starting to have a change of heart towards you?" Danny asked.

"I don't know." Sam took a long sip of her water before continuing. "A sudden change of heart after a month is understandable, but a sudden change of heart after like three days is a little suspicious to me."

"That's true, but maybe she's being genuine."

"So you're saying I should trust her?"

"Of course not. Just watch her. If she genuinely wants to be your friend, then I'm sure you'll do whatever you think is best."

Sam's brow furrowed and she stared at her boyfriend incredulously. "She wanted to claw my eyes out Tuesday and then she suddenly wants to be my friend Thursday? That's not suspicious to you?"

Danny scoffed and shook his head. "I'm not saying it's not suspicious, Sam," he told her, mildly irritated now. "I'm saying that if she's genuinely being nice to you and letting her guard down, then it wouldn't hurt for you to do the same. You've done it before with Val."

She leaned forward and pressed her index finger along the surface of the cafeteria table. "Those aren't the same situations. My beef with Valerie was mainly there because she kept trying to waste you. My beef with Paulina is a whole different thing. She's been nothing but disrespectful towards us for years and now you want me to be cool with her?"

Tucker awkwardly sat there, glancing back and forth between them. He knew better than to intervene in their arguments whenever it got heated, so he just kept his mouth shut and watched them.

"I mean, that's up to you! I'm not saying you guys have to be best friends or anything, but holding a grudge is pointless and it's just going to make you unhappy," Danny replied. "Just forgive and forget. That's what I did. We're sixteen now. We have bigger things heading our way."

Sam had no response for that because she knew he had a point. Still, she was pissed off now, so she ignored him and glared at her bottle of water. She kind of felt like he was defending Paulina, but then again, she knew he was more of a forgiving type of person than she was.

The bell rang five minutes later, so she quickly grabbed her backpack and got up from her seat. She only managed to march a few feet away from the table before Danny caught up to her, gently grasping her arm to stop her from walking. With a sigh, she turned around to face him.

"Stop," he said softly, moving his hand away from her. "I wasn't trying to pick a fight with you. I don't want you to be mad at me. Anyone else, sure, but definitely not you."

She found herself smiling at that. "Yeah, same. Sorry about that," she apologized. "This whole week was just really stressful for me and I took it out on you."

He returned the smile, though it was much more faint than hers was. "I wasn't trying to force you to be friends with Paulina. I'm not even friends with her myself. I was just looking out for you and trying to minimize your stress, so if playing nice with her is going to help with that, then—"

"No, I get it. Thank you." She reached out for his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. He blushed, his smiling increasing. "I'll watch her first to see if she's being genuine before I make any attempts at opening up to her."

"Let me know how that goes," he responded. "Mind if I walk you to class?"

"No, no I don't."

* * *

Sam and Paulina decided against practicing during detention, as it was Friday and they wanted to take a break. They strangely sat adjacent to each other in the classroom, but neither of them bothered starting a conversation with the other.

At least, until Sam broke the silence.

"Did you honestly mean everything you said yesterday?" she asked the cheerleader. She kept her eyes focused on the desk, refusing to make eye contact with this girl.

"Yeah," was Paulina's answer. She was picking at her nails, and when Sam glanced over at her, she noticed that they were re-done after their fight on Tuesday. "I'm working on being a better person. I'm an A-lister. We don't need to fight with anyone to prove our dominance."

"But what made you suddenly develop this mindset? That's what I don't understand," Sam replied. "Just a few days ago, you were at my throat all because I asked you what your problem was with me."

_"You have no right to talk to me like that, freak. Fenton saved the world. Not you." Paulina then flicked her hair behind her shoulder and sharpened her glare. "I don't owe you even a pinch of respect just because you're shacking up with him."_

_Sam puffed out her lower lip and raised her shoulders nonchalantly. "That's completely fine. I don't care for your respect."_

_"Good," Paulina replied, "because you're not getting it. Don't come over here and start something with me that you're not going to finish."_

_"I'm not trying to start anything with you. Just stop throwing things at me and I'll go back to ignoring you. Simple, right?"_

_Paulina boldly decided to challenge her by grabbing another pre-ripped chunk of her eraser and chucking it right in the center of her face. Her lips then slid into her signature devious smirk, which only pissed off the girl in front of her. "What are you going to do about it, Goth?"_

"You can't say I was starting with you because I came at you respectfully," Sam continued. She leaned upright in her seat and finally caught Paulina's gaze. "Am I right or am I wrong about that?"

"No, you're right, but I felt attacked. I countered and asked you what your problem was because you came up to me first," Paulina pointed out. "Then you insulted me."

"_What's the problem?" Sam spoke so calmly that she surprised herself. If anyone chose to listen in, it would've just sounded like a regular conversation going on between them. Mr. Lancer was speaking over them, so nobody else was aware of their discussion besides their group._

_Paulina simply sized her up in disgust. "I don't know. You tell me. You're the one who came over here."_

_"Because unfortunately, we're partners for this assignment. I really hope all that hairspray you use didn't give you amnesia," Sam retorted._

Sam snorted. "I only insulted you because you kept throwing parts of your eraser at me for no reason other than wanting to start a fight. Plus, you've said much worse things to me in the past."

"Well, I can't take any of it back now because it's in the past. If you want to hold a grudge against me for it, go right ahead."

Sam didn't respond to her and let an irritated sigh slip from her mouth. Normally, she would've left the argument at that, but her earlier conversation with Danny started flashing through her mind. Holding a grudge was exhausting, but she wasn't about to just hand her trust over to Paulina.

It would be a cold day in hell before that happened so quickly.

"Look, I'm done fighting with you too. We already did what we had to do, so it's squashed and over with now," she said softly. "We don't have to keep going back and forth every time we see each other. For the sake of this performance, I'll set aside our differences. Just for now though."

Paulina nodded understandably, studying Sam closely for a few seconds. "All right. I get it. It's pretty much a temporary truce," she responded, extending out her hand for a handshake. "Right?" Sam stared at it briefly before rolling her eyes in defeat and accepting her gesture.

"Yeah, sure."

* * *

**Author's note: So, who was wrong in the argument: Danny or Sam? Who do you agree with more? Was Sam wrong for not wanting to warm up to Paulina? Thanks for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**(Saturday afternoon at the Nasty Burger)**

"That's for sure the lamest idea I've ever heard of in my life," Ava remarked, scoffing disapprovingly. Paulina had just finished explaining the theme of her performance to the girl, and of course, she wasn't a fan of it. "Geeks versus jocks. This isn't some pep rally dance battle."

Paulina idly flipped through the latest issue of a fashion magazine she had borrowed from Star before responding. "Does the theme really matter at this point?" she asked. "The whole performance became tainted once Manson was forced into it."

Star nodded absently, but Ava rolled her eyes. "We could've really put on the best show in all of Casper High if you and her never fought," she pointed out. "You guys should've just swapped it out after the talent show."

"Who said you were going to be in my performance?" Paulina inquired, glaring directly over at Ava, who immediately fell silent. "Last time I checked, it was only going to be me featuring Star."

"And now, thanks to _someone_, it's you featuring Manson," Star retorted. "That's the biggest downgrade in, like, the history of downgrades."

Paulina closed the magazine and handed it to Star with an annoyed sigh. "You guys sure complain a lot. Do you want me to carry out this revenge scheme properly or not?" she demanded, to which both girls nodded. "Okay, so then shut up and chill out. I know exactly what I'm doing."

Ava pursed her lips and glanced over at Star, whispering, "Tetchy." When Star nodded, she looked back at Paulina and began tapping her finger against the table. "You said that you and Manson have the auditorium to yourselves on Monday, right?"

"Right," Paulina confirmed.

"Try to have like a whole bonding session with her while you're rehearsing. Bring her out of her comfort zone because there's no way in the deep pits of hell that she's going to want to sing or dance around you anytime before the show."

Star hummed, nodding approvingly. "When you loosen up, she'll be more likely to loosen up as well. The more she warms up to you, the more it'll crush her when you steal Fenton from her," she said.

"Technically I'm not stealing him because he was mine in the first place," Paulina defended. "But you're both right. I hear you. I'm like, the master manipulator, so I'm pretty sure this will be a piece of cake for me."

Ava smirked and reached out for some fries that had been dumped onto a tray in front of her. "That's why you're the queen of the A-listers," she praised, popping the food into her mouth. "Can't wait to see the look on Manson's face."

At that moment, Danny and Sam entered the Nasty Burger with Tucker noticeably missing from their side. Paulina dismissed his absence, passing it off as something Mayor-related. The pair made a beeline for the front counter and started talking to the overly-bubbly cashier.

Since Ava and Star didn't seem to notice them standing over there, Paulina kept herself on mute and just stared at the couple; mainly Danny. He was much more attractive to her than he had been in Freshman year. He was a few inches taller, more muscular, and he dressed a lot better than he did in the past.

Then there was Sam. She wasn't as spooky-looking as she was in Freshman year, but there were still evident traces of Goth present on her person. She now wore a long-sleeved mesh shirt with a black tank top underneath. She paired it with black skinny jeans and dark purple combat boots.

Paulina actually thought Sam was a beautiful girl. Definitely not better-looking than her for sure, but she was up there in looks. She just wished the girl would wear lighter colors and ditch the dark persona, but she knew that wasn't going to happen.

She cupped her hands on either side of her mouth and kept her eyes glued in Danny and Sam's direction. "Yoo-hoo! Danny! Sam!" she called out. Both of them turned around and looked at her questionably, but it was Sam's expression that fell once she realized it was Paulina calling them over.

Ava's eyes widened in surprise and she hastily nudged Paulina. "Why are you calling both of them over here?" she demanded. Paulina rolled her eyes.

"Because I'm trying to play nice." She glanced back over in time to see Danny and Sam tentatively approaching their table.

"Hi Danny," Ava greeted, flashing him her brightest smile. She completely disregarded Sam, which Paulina was thankful for because it looked natural. "We were just wondering if you wanted to sit with us."

"You and Sam," Paulina quickly added. She would've had her cover blown if they only invited Danny to sit with them. That, and he most likely wasn't going to sit there with them anyway if Sam wasn't allowed to.

He looked to his girlfriend for confirmation, but she seemed highly uncomfortable about the suggestion. It wasn't until she glanced over at Paulina and received a tender smile from the cheerleader that she sighed in defeat and took a seat beside her.

"How's your Saturday going so far?" Ava asked Danny as he sat down beside Sam. The Halfa smiled timidly and rubbed his neck.

"It's going okay, I guess. Kinda slow," he answered.

Paulina sensed Sam's discomfort, but she didn't necessarily care for it much. Still, an act was an act, so she pretended to take interest. "What about you?" she asked, her smile never faltering. "What brings you to the Nasty Burger today?"

Sam jerked her thumb towards Danny. "He was craving a burger. I tried to offer him some sense by suggesting that he eat more greens, but that only made him want to come here even more," she responded.

"I actually agree with her," Paulina smirked, motioning towards Sam while looking at Danny. "Greens are healthy for a growing teenager, and of course, a cheerleader," she informed him, gesturing to herself.

"Good thing I'm not a cheerleader," Ava retorted, guiding another fry to her mouth. "You know, you two are total opposites. Different meal preferences, different style choices, one likes being in the light, the other likes being in the shadows..."

Sam, realizing she was being addressed, simply shrugged. "Opposites attract," she answered. "We've certainly experienced a lot together by being opposites. I've learned new things from him and vice verse."

"Plus, we're not that much different from each other," Danny interceded, smiling a little. "We actually share some interests."

Paulina guessed that Sam felt uncomfortable with the conversation because she quickly switched the subject. "Why did you want us to sit with you guys? I mean, isn't this awkward for you?"

"Yes," Ava and Star murmured.

"Not at all," Paulina responded. The only reason she didn't scold her friends for acting like that was because she wanted them to keep acting cold towards Sam. It would've been suspicious if all three of them were suddenly friendly to her. "Why? Are you feeling awkward?"

"Yeah, a little," Sam admitted. "What, is this a weird attempt at getting me to become your friend?"

"No," Paulina told her. "It's a start. I'm very persistent." She pretended that she only wanted a friendship with Sam instead of Danny so it wouldn't be too obvious that she was only going through with all that for the sake of a scheme.

Sam's expression was unreadable at first, but when Danny flashed her a knowing smirk, a smile broke out across her face and she averted her gaze. Paulina glanced over at Ava, whose reaction was to wink at her as if to tell her 'good job'.

A blue wisp spewed from Danny's mouth at that moment, causing him to sigh loudly and stand up. Sam quickly stood up along with him, flashing him a look that told him she was going with him. Paulina already understood why he had to go, so she didn't question him and just let them leave.

Ava was a little slower than her, however, so she demanded, "Wait, where are they off to in such a hurry?"

"I don't know. He said that was his ghost sense, so I'm guessing he's going to go battle a ghost," Paulina replied. "But did you see how hard it was to get Manson to crack? She just barely did. I've got to try something else."

"Forget the false friendship. You're pretty much wasting your time pretending to be her friend if you're just going to screw her over in the end," Star said.

"Well, I'm not backpedaling now. It'll look way too suspicious if I'm suddenly mean to her again."

"That's correct," Ava agreed. "Keep playing your cards right. We'll see our grand results in six days."

* * *

Paulina was walking down the street, heading to a new local salon so that she could try out their eyelash extensions. If it looked really good on her, then she planned on wearing them to the talent show to give her eyes an extra pop.

As she rounded the corner of the adjacent street and continued down the sidewalk, she heard a semi-loud crash from her left. Instinctively, her head whipped in that direction, where she saw Danny hovering above the air in Phantom form, battling Skulker.

They were both fighting at an abandoned warehouse. It wasn't too far away from the Nasty Burger, so she figured that they had been fighting for awhile because Danny looked completely frustrated. He charged at Skulker, grabbed him, and then phased them both downward through the roof of the warehouse.

That's when an idea struck her: she could help him. If she helped him, then there was a chance that he would see her in a much better light. She didn't know where Sam was or if the girl was even still around, but before she knew it, her feet were moving towards the entrance of the warehouse.

Once inside, she let the noise of the battle guide her to where Danny and Skulker were because she didn't know her way around. She found them a minute after searching, blasting at each other in a showdown. She didn't say anything at first because she didn't want to distract Danny and throw him off course.

Sam, on the other hand, was present and battling another ghost. This one was much smaller than Skulker was, somewhat similar to her own height. She was standing on top of the upper level and firing down at the ghost with a device on her wrist.

She didn't seem to notice Paulina's presence, that is, until the cheerleader accidentally knocked over a box and sent the items inside tumbling to the ground. That's when she snapped her head to the side and gasped when she saw Paulina standing there with a sheepish expression.

"Paulina? What the heck are you doing here?" she demanded, returning her focus to the ghost. She successfully blasted it once, sending it crashing back into a few boxes. "Actually, tell me later. This isn't really the time for—"

"I came to help," Paulina cut her off. "Just tell me what you need me to do."

"Uh, leave?" Sam replied. The ghost recovered quickly and started firing at her, but she ducked behind an object just in time. "It's getting a little dangerous out here and we don't need you getting caught in the crossfire."

"Paulina? What are you doing here?" a surprised Danny asked while battling Skulker.

"We've already established that! She'll tell us later!" Sam informed him while peeking around the object she was hiding behind. She aimed at the ghost, but before she could blast it, it panicked and flew up through the roof. "Oh, what? Such a wimp!" she complained.

"I thought you told me to stop taunting the ghosts while I'm battling them," Danny pointed out, putting up a shield around him as Skulker fired some of his weapons in his direction. "Why's it okay when you do it?"

"Because I said what I said _after_ my ghost noped out of here," she defended, watching his encounter with Skulker. As she jumped down to the bottom level of the warehouse and started approaching Paulina, she told Danny, "Hey, stop playing with him and finish this up. We're supposed to be meeting Tucker in a few."

"Yes ma'am!"

Paulina wanted to smile at their interaction, as nerdy as she thought it was, but she didn't think it was the appropriate time. "So, I guess I'm not needed here, huh?" she wondered, now feeling stupid for coming there.

"Not today, Paulina. Sorry," Danny apologized. He dropped his shield and flew around Skulker, who growled vehemently and fired at the Halfa. His blast missed the boy completely, and instead, it rammed into a huge stack of clutter.

What followed next seemed to happen in slow motion.

Paulina heard Sam yell for her to get out of the way, but she didn't know where to go because she didn't know what was happening. Before she could even think of where to go, she felt herself being shoved to the side.

She instinctively covered her head right before a loud crash was heard from around her. She didn't dare move a muscle until the noise subsided, and once it did, she tentatively lifted her head and glanced around to see what happened.

"Sam? Sam!" she heard Danny shout. He didn't immediately rush over to them, as he was still battling Skulker, so she took it upon herself to investigate what happened. It didn't take her long to realize that Sam had pushed her out of harms way and took the fall for her.

She quickly got up and made her way over to Sam, who was semi-buried underneath the fallen clutter. She pulled and pushed away the items on top of the girl, only to find her lying unconscious in it. Now alarmed, she instantly felt for a pulse. Luckily, one was there.

Before she could do anything else, Danny flew over to her and knelt down beside Sam. She noticed that Skulker was gone now, but she didn't bother asking where he was. She knew that now really wasn't the appropriate time for that.

"Sam!" He shook her gently at first, but when she failed to stir, he shook her more firmly. "Sam? Hey, wake up."

Paulina nervously bit her fingernails as she watched him. She couldn't help but feel guilty about what just happened because if she minded her business instead of interfering the way that she did, then what just happened probably wouldn't have happened.

She was greatly surprised, and a bit relieved, that Sam knocked her out of the way in time. Sam was a hero and had hero instincts. She battled ghosts alongside Danny and Tucker and saved the town from harm with them plenty of times, so it would've been uncharacteristic if she didn't sacrifice herself like that.

Regardless, that whole situation made Paulina respect her a little more.

* * *

**Author's note: So, do you think it was Sam's heroic actions that got her knocked out like that? Do you think this will cause Paulina to have a change of heart towards her? Thanks for reading.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Uh... hey, are you okay?"

At the sound of Paulina's shaky voice, Sam partially opened her eyes. She felt dazed; she was still very much out of it, but when Paulina shook her shoulder, she became a lot more alert and let her eyes open more widely.

She glanced around the room she was in and nearly jolted upright in bewilderment when she didn't recognize her surroundings. The walls were a light shade of pink and the bed sheets were dark pink, which was an obvious sign that she wasn't in Danny's room, Tucker's room, or even her room.

That only left one person.

"This is my house and you're in my room," Paulina, who picked up on her confusion, abruptly informed her. she "After you, uh, got hit in the head back there, I persuaded Danny to bring you to my place since it was the closest."

"Ah, and where's Danny?" Sam inquired, her voice sounding hoarse.

"He said he was going to have a little talk with that Skulker ghost and then he would be coming back," Paulina answered.

Sam gave a dismissive nod of her head before attempting to sit up, only to discover that the action made her head throb. As a result of the unexpected pain, she hissed quietly and stilled herself for a few seconds. Paulina moved over to a small table behind her and grabbed an ice pack.

"He also said to give this to you after you woke up, so, here." She handed the ice pack to Sam, flashing her an almost apologetic look. Sam accepted the ice pack, though hesitantly, and slightly smiled her thanks. "Hey, so, about what happened back there—"

"Don't worry about it," Sam interposed. She really didn't want to talk about what happened back there. She wasn't embarrassed about what she had done, but more so because of the result.

Paulina frowned. "Look, I don't usually ever say this, but that was my fault. I shouldn't have popped up like that and distracted you guys, but to be fair, I just wanted to help."

"I know," Sam sighed, pressing the ice pack to her head. "That's why I said don't worry about it. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught in the crossfire. No hard feelings. Really."

"Well, if you insist, but why did you do that?" Paulina asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, why did you push me out of the way and take the blow? You don't exactly like me."

"That doesn't mean I'm just going to stand aside and let you get hit. You didn't see what was happening and I did, so I got you out of the way. I didn't think I'd get knocked out in the process, but I don't regret doing what I did."

"Still, I appreciate what you did back there. You didn't have to do it, but you did, so thanks," Paulina responded. "I promise I won't pull something that risky again. From now on, I'll leave ghost fighting to you, Danny, and your other geeky friend."

"Tucker," Sam corrected.

"Same difference." Paulina backed over to the window of her bedroom and stared out of it. "How's your head?"

"It's fine. Why are you being so nice to me?" Sam asked skeptically, removing the ice pack from her head as she spoke. "You're supposed to be kicking me out of your room because I'm geeking up the atmosphere and then you're supposed to burn your bedsheets along with anything else I've touched."

Paulina rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in frustration. "It's Saturday. We fought on Tuesday. Do you really think I'd bother being nice to you for four days straight if I didn't want to make amends? You can be suspicious all you want, but don't you think that if I wanted to do something to you revenge -wise, I would've done it by now?"

Sam sighed heavily in defeat and raised the ice pack to her head once again. "It's just hard to believe that Paulina Sanchez, a cheerleader, A-lister, and the most popular girl in all of Casper High, wants to associate with Sam Manson, a geek, freak, outcast, and a loser, after years of bashing her."

"I don't really think you're all that," Paulina said quietly. "Well, maybe an outcast and a loser, but in a way, I admire you for that. You don't care what people say and you don't follow any social trends. You're just... you. That, and Danny chose you over me. I guess I was jealous of you."

"You?" Sam scoffed. "Jealous of _me_?"

"You know what?" Paulina started, rolling her eyes. "Never mind. Forget it."

She started to walk out of the room rather dramatically, prompting Sam to sigh loudly and lower her ice pack again. "Fine." Paulina stopped in her tracks and turned around, looking to her expectantly. "I'll give you _one_ chance, but if you blow it, I swear to you—"

"I won't blow it. I promise," Paulina vowed. "I just don't want any bad blood with you." Strangely, to Sam, she seemed so genuine that it surprised her. She stared at the girl for several seconds to see if her expression would shift, but when it didn't, she shrugged.

"We'll see where it goes," she concluded, smiling a bit. Paulina returned the smile and nodded her head, accepting her answer.

Danny showed up about two minutes later, phasing in through Paulina's bedroom window. As soon as he noticed that Sam was awake now, he made a beeline for her side. "Look who's finally up," he said with a small smile. "Are you okay? You gave me quite the scare back there."

"Yeah, I'm okay. It's going to take a lot more than that to get rid of me. My head's pretty hard," she remarked, tapping the side of her head twice. Danny chuckled softly and ruffled her hair, causing her to grimace and playfully smack his hand.

"Thanks for trying to give us a hand back there. I really appreciate it," he told Paulina.

"Yeah, but if I wasn't there, she wouldn't have had to push me out of the way and we wouldn't be here right now."

"Don't blame yourself for that. Trust me, it's not your fault. The most important thing now is that you're both okay." When Paulina nodded understandably, he turned to Sam and started to help her out of the bed. "I should get you home now."

Paulina led them downstairs and opened the front door for them. Danny scooped Sam up into his arms, but before he took off, she told Paulina, "Really, don't blame yourself for what happened back there."

The cheerleader smiled faintly, and with that, they took off into the sky.

"She's starting to warm up to us," Danny noted as he flew through the air. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were starting to warm up to her too."

Sam nestled her head in the crook of his neck to prevent blocking his line of vision. "I'm not going home. I'm coming with you to see Tucker," she stated, changing the subject because that wasn't something she was about to admit to him, true or not.

"Nope. You're going home with your possible concussion and I'm going to go see Tucker, but I'll make sure he knows to call you later."

"I'm fine," Sam stubbornly insisted, "but if you take me home, I won't be. My parents are going to lecture me into a coma for sneaking out to go to the Nasty Burger with you."

Danny paused, thinking it over for a few seconds. "If they think you snuck out, that means they won't check your room for you, right?" She knew what he was implying, so she glared at him and made him backpedal. "All right, all right. City hall it is."

They reached City Hall just a few minutes later. Tucker was sitting at his computer, completely focused on the screen while typing vigorously. He barely noticed them walking in, but once he did, he grinned and got up from his computer chair. "Hey, guys!" he greeted. "I was starting to think you lovebirds forgot about me."

"How could we forget about you and all your glory? That'd be criminal," Sam teased, smiling weakly. She shuffled her way over to a bean bag chair in the corner of the room and plopped down onto it, letting out an exhausted sigh. Tucker noticed this and glanced over at Danny curiously.

"Ghost fight gone wrong," the Halfa told him. "Paulina edition."

Tucker's eyebrows skyrocketed. "No way. What happened?"

Danny switched back into his human form and sat down in a chair that was in front of Tucker's desk. "Paulina showed up out of freaking nowhere, wanting to help me and Sam mid-battle," he explained. "Long story short, she ended up getting in the way and Sam got hurt because of it."

"What, did she break a nail and take it out on you?" Tucker snorted, making Sam crack a smirk.

"More like I got the consciousness knocked out of me while pushing her out of harm's way," she retorted, closing her eyes. "I'm still fine though, Danny, so you can get the idea of taking me home out of your head right now."

When she heard him grunt, her smirk increased into a smile. She opened her eyes to see Tucker shaking his head as he walked back over to his desk. "I never thought I'd live to see the day where Samantha Manson gets knocked out during a battle because she was trying to save her enemy."

"Call me Samantha again and you won't live to see any other days."

Tucker ducked behind his computer, warily peeking above it to make sure a boot wasn't being chucked in his direction. Danny laughed at the pair and held up a hand, intervening. "Okay, guys. From now on, only trained people are allowed to help us out with ghost fighting."

Sam nodded. "After today, I agree with absolutely no hesitation."

"You know, I never pinned Paulina as the helping hand type of person when it comes to ghost fighting. Usually, she's running away and screaming," Tucker pointed out. "What suddenly changed her mind today?"

"Sam," Danny answered, jerking his head in her direction. "That's the only reason I can think of. Paulina's been really trying to prove herself lately."

She glared faintly at him before clarifying, "I am not the reason." At least, she hoped she wasn't. The more she thought about it, the more she started to feel guilty. If Paulina only rushed in to help so that she could prove how serious she was about wanting a friendship with Sam, then that put her at fault.

"I can't picture you guys being friends," Tucker shuddered. "That's just... wrong, like toothpaste and orange juice."

"Or like me and Mondays," Danny pitched.

"Oh, no," Sam began, pointing accusingly at him. "You don't get to crack jokes about this. You were the same person who told me to give her a chance yesterday."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean this situation isn't somewhat amusing. I mean, this is the same girl you've called a menace to society, an outrage against nature, a fire-breathing cheerleader, Wicked Witch of the West, Friday the 13th: Paulina edition, and—"

"Wait. I've never called her that last one," Sam frowned.

"Actually, that was Val," Tucker corrected. "During the beginning of Sophomore year."

"Oh," Danny drawled, chuckling. "I remember that now."

Sam chose to remain silent and just let them carry on the conversation without her. She started to deeply think about the whole Paulina situation. Maybe the girl was being sincere and actually wanted to form a real friendship with her. It was strange, but who was she to blatantly deny that?

She figured she'd just give the cheerleader a chance to prove herself as an acquaintance first before making any drastic decisions. That was the same thing she had done with Valerie after Danny's secret was revealed, so she was going to try that with Paulina.

She just hoped she wasn't going to regret it in the end.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**(Monday: After School)**

"And then I felt someone push me out of the way. When I got up, I saw that it was Manson. She took the fall for me," Paulina explained to Ava in the auditorium. She had booked the area that afternoon to rehearse, so now she was just waiting for Sam to arrive. "I don't think she's as bad as I thought she was."

Ava snorted and leaned her lower body back against a chair. "Okay, Twinkle Toes. That sounds like some stereotypical high school romance bullshit," she remarked bitterly. "You're not getting soft on me, are you?"

Paulina gave a grimace of mild exasperation. "All I said was that she wasn't that bad. How does that make me soft?" she demanded. She definitely thought Ava was taking the whole revenge scheme to the heart. She couldn't help but wonder if the girl had unresolved past issues with Sam.

"Because you're getting weak on me," Ava responded. "Manson is the enemy. Don't you dare forget that."

"Who do you think you're talking to like that?" Paulina snapped, moving her hands to her hips. "I don't take orders from anybody."

"Yeah, I can tell, because if you did, you wouldn't be blowing this plan the way you're blowing it right now!" Ava barked, stomping her foot like a child. "You said you weren't labeled the best actress in Casper High for no reason, right? Well, then show me that reason!"

"Hakuna your tatas, girl," Paulina instructed, sizing Ava up in surprise. "You're being such a baby about this whole thing. I just said Manson was cool for what she did Saturday. She could've easily let me get hit instead of her, but she didn't. What's your deal with her anyway?"

"I, um, ah," Ava hesitated, averting her gaze and glaring at the floor. "Nothing. Forget it."

Paulina stared at her inquisitively for half a minute before surveying her nails. "Well, I know what I'm doing," she assured her friend. "Relax. I don't know why it seems like you want this scheme to happen more than I want it to."

Ava grumbled to herself and marched out of the auditorium just as Sam walked in. They actually ended up bumping into each other, but Ava growled at her before continuing out the door. "Jeez. What's with her?" Sam demanded, glaring at the girl's retreating form.

Paulina shrugged; she didn't really care. "Let's just get started." She glanced down at Sam's combat boots with a raised eyebrow. "You're not seriously going to practice in those shoes, are you?"

The Goth followed her gaze down to her shoes before looking back up at her defensively. "Why not? I'm not dancing or anything," she huffed.

"Oh, yes you are," Paulina responded. She spun on her heels and started walking down the aisle. "Part of the reason why I let you write your own verse and choose a theme was so you could feel more comfortable with moving around, so you bet your ass you're going to do something dance-related."

"Nope," Sam refused, following her down the aisle, "because that wasn't part of our deal. We agreed on me not dancing."

"At least move around a little. Remember what I said about stage presence?"

"And remember what I said about letting my dancing come naturally to me? I don't do planned choreography."

Paulina inhaled deeply before exhaling sharply. "Fine." She then pointed upward towards the control booth. "Mikey and Nathan are going to be helping us out with all the technical stuff."

Sam's eyes flashed up to the control booth just as the two geeks grinned and waved at her. She greeted them with a hesitant and brief smile before turning her attention back to Paulina. "I barely want to sing in front of you. Why would I want to sing in front of them?" she asked.

"Because they don't necessarily care for you as much as they do for me," Paulina answered truthfully. "I highly doubt they'll swoon over your voice compared to mine."

"That's good enough for me," Sam concluded, heaving a deep sigh. "Let's just get this over with."

Paulina nodded her head and made a beeline for the steps leading to the stage. Sam remained in the aisle for whatever reason, which gave her an idea. "Do you remember what I said about you opening up the performance from the stage? Well, I lied. Start off the stage."

Sam reached into her back pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper with a shrug. "Sure. That's much better than what you originally wanted me to do," she remarked. "I don't have any of my lyrics memorized, so I'm going to follow it on this paper."

"You should get it memorized before the show," Paulina told her, growing a bit irritated. She wasn't used to coaching other girls around because she had never done that in the past. Everyone she worked with on a showcase knew what to do, so she had quite little patience with Sam.

"I will. I just haven't exactly had the time to do so," Sam explained.

"Okay, well, let's run through the first few parts," Paulina replied. She grabbed two microphones from the microphone stands and tossed one to Sam before moving to the center of the stage. She raised the mic to her lips and asked Mikey and Nathan, "Can one of you nerds dim the lights in here?"

She saw Sam roll her eyes right before the lights were dimmed down a notch. "How am I supposed to read my lyrics? And how is the audience supposed to see me in this lighting? I know I'm pale and all, but that doesn't mean—"

"All right, all right. Spare me the sass," Paulina interjected. "Mikey, turn the lights up a little more," she ordered. When he obeyed, she thanked him and flashed Sam a look that pretty much said, 'Happy?"

"Very," was the Goth's retort.

Paulina snorted. "Nathan, you can start the music now." She lowered her microphone to her side and brought a hand to her hip. A few seconds later, the instrumental to her song started to blare through the auditorium's speakers. Her first thought was that the music sounded much better there than it did on her phone.

She watched as Sam timidly held up the paper and squinted at it, trying to decide what part of the instrumental she was supposed to jump in at. Paulina was curious as to how bad of a singer she was, but when Sam finally opened her mouth and started singing, her jaw dropped.

"Wait, wait. Hold the hell up," she interrupted, bringing the microphone up near her mouth again. "Nathan, cut the track!" Sam frowned, thinking she did something wrong. Once the music stopped, Paulina scowled at her. "You're not supposed to be able to sing like that!"

"Sing like what?" She seemed genuinely confused, which only irritated Paulina further.

"Like... _that_! I thought you said you couldn't sing!"

Sam's face turned beet red and she looked away shyly. "I-I mean, I never actually said that," she responded.

Though she had a point, Paulina couldn't help but feel lied to. She had it in her head that Sam couldn't sing, mostly because the Goth never denied it whenever the subject was brought up. Because of that, Paulina assumed she was going to outshine her at the showcase.

Boy, was she wrong.

Sam only sang two lines from her verse so far before she was cut off, but Paulina was referring to the beautiful falsetto note that the girl had chosen to open the song with. She herself couldn't hit a note like that, which is exactly why she felt jealous and upset; she refused to be outshined at her own show.

She brought the microphone up to her mouth again with a bitter sigh. "Nathan, restart the track." She then crouched down on the stage and stared at Sam, who glanced up at the booth just as Nathan restarted the song.

The instrumental played again, so Sam started singing at the very same time she chose to before. She skipped out on hitting the falsetto note the way she did before; most likely for Paulina's sake. Still, that did nothing to ease the cheerleader's envy because Sam sang beautifully.

Her singing voice was soft and smooth, being much lighter than her speaking voice was. Paulina didn't interrupt her this time and just forced herself to listen to the rest of the verse. When Sam was finished, she moved the microphone away from her mouth and shrugged awkwardly.

"Well, there's the opening," she said. "Now's your cue to swoop in and steal the show."

Paulina swallowed her bitter feelings for the moment and perked up when she realized that it was now her time to shine. Once the beat of the instrumental picked up, she flicked her hair behind her shoulder and began prancing across the stage like she owned it.

Her hips bounced with every step she took and she raised her microphone, singing into it confidently. She thought she was on a roll, and she was, until her verse drew to an end half a minute later and she attempted to sing the same note that Sam had hit earlier, only to fail.

Now fuming because of that, she lowered her microphone and yelled for Nathan to stop the music. After he did, she positioned the microphone back on the stand and growled with frustration. "Why can't I hit that same stupid note that you did?" she complained.

"Maybe because you only made one attempt at it," Sam suggested. "Don't try to hit the exact same note that I did. Let it come naturally to you," she advised.

Paulina shook her head. "What's the point? You're just going to swing by and steal the show with your soft and clear voice anyway. What, are your vocal chords infused with honey or something?" she scoffed. Sam's eyebrows knitted together and her frown deepened.

"You want to know something, Paulina? I think your voice is amazing," she remarked. Paulina looked down at her from her place on the stage, but she said nothing and let the girl continue speaking. "I can't believe I just said that out loud, but it's true. You're the most confident person I know, so this right here is a little odd for me to see."

"Yeah, I get that. I'm just so used to being the best at everything that when I bump into someone who's better than me at something, I overreact," Paulina replied.

Sam scratched her head and eyed the girl for a few seconds before quietly telling her, "You should really ditch the need to be perfect all the time. Don't base your self-worth on external accomplishments."

Paulina's eyes narrowed a bit. "I have absolutely no idea what you said after the first sentence, but you're one to talk. You're dating Danny Phantom, the guy who I've been swooning over since Freshman year. Your one friend Foley is a better friend to you than all of my friends are to me."

"Paulina—"

"You're stronger than me, faster than me, and smarter than me," she continued, disregarding the mention of her name from Sam. "I wouldn't have to be such a perfectionist if I didn't constantly feel like I was competing with you."

"Competing with me?" Sam repeated. "First of all, Danny used to swoon over you all the time when we were Freshman, despite all the times you rejected and humiliated him. You were, and still are, so obsessed with popularity that you overlook someone's personality and focus entirely on the way they present themselves."

As she spoke, she slowly stepped closer and closer, inching right up to the stage. "As for the friends situation, I think they're negatively affecting your personal growth. They thrive on the misery of others just so they can have something to talk about. What kind of friendship is that?"

Paulina glared darkly at her. "What's it to you anyway? Why do you even care?"

Sam returned the glare, though much more powerfully. "Because for a minute, I felt like there was more to you, that you weren't like them the way I swore you were, but you know what?" She was by the stage now, so she set the microphone down on top of it. "I guess I was wrong."

She stormed off and Paulina fell silent after that. There wasn't much for her to say because she was furious, but as much as she hated to admit it, she knew Sam had a point.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Sam returned to the auditorium about half an hour later when she felt a little more calm again. She knew Paulina continued rehearsing without her because she faintly heard the instrumental to their song being played from her place in the hallway.

Her intention was never to get into an argument with the cheerleader, but what she said earlier rubbed her the wrong way. She felt like Paulina was victimizing herself instead of taking responsibility for her past actions. That just didn't sit right with Sam.

She pulled open the door to the auditorium and walked in slowly. The music wasn't playing anymore and Paulina wasn't singing anymore. Instead, she was standing in the aisle and staring up at the stage the same way Sam had been earlier. She didn't seem to notice that the Goth had entered until she spoke.

"Listen, about what happened back there..." she trailed off. She decided that she was going to simply apologize and be the bigger person because Paulina certainly wasn't going to do the same. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose my cool like that."

Paulina turned around and fixed her gaze onto the girl. Her expression was soft and almost apologetic, which slightly caught Sam off-guard. Nonetheless, she rubbed her hands together and kept speaking.

"I just thought it was weird how you tore me down for years, called me all these names and pushed me around, only to backpedal now and tell me that it was because you were jealous of me. Why shatter my self-esteem in order to boost yours?"

"I don't know," Paulina muttered darkly. "I just assumed you were so confident with yourself that you thought you were better than me, so I wanted to break you down a little. I'm not saying I'm not happy with myself, because I am. I just, I wanted some parts of your life to add to mine."

"You should never want someone else's life. If you're not happy with where you are now, you have to get up and go after what you want. The _right_ way, Paulina," Sam clarified. "It shouldn't involve tearing other people down."

Paulina sighed. "Well, I know that now. I just thought you stole Phantom from me because I was pretty much obsessed with him and you magically swooped into the picture. He went from swooning over me daily to ignoring me completely."

"To be fair, you always said that us 'two losers would end up together' way before his secret was revealed, so technically I didn't magically swoop in anywhere and steal him from you," Sam pointed out. "He's not anyone's property and nobody kidnapped him. He went by his own free will."

"I get that," Paulina sighed. She seemed to be drinking in Sam's words instead of nonchalantly brushing them off, which the Goth was appreciative for. "How I feel is how I feel. I know it's wrong, but that's just how I feel."

"Well, first of all, I'm glad you took your anger and frustration out on me instead of him. Thank you for that," Sam praised, walking up to the stage. "Boys come and go, but friendships are much more likely to last longer. We... we could've actually been friends had you not picked on me so much in the past."

"You just never gave me and my group of friends a chance," Paulina said softly. "You judged us right off the bat because half of us are cheerleaders and the other half of them are football players. You stereotyped us without getting to know us."

"That couldn't be further from the truth," Sam objected. "You guys prejudged not only me, but other students as well because you didn't think we fit your popularity standards. You said I didn't give your group a chance, but really, you didn't give my group a chance first. That's why I didn't give you one."

"I realize we're speaking in past tense. We can both fault each other all day, but that'll get us nowhere. I'm seriously willing to squash this if you are," Paulina replied. "I already explained why I felt the way that I did towards you, and while that doesn't excuse the way I treated you back then, I don't see why we need to keep arguing about it."

"You're right. I know this may be out of character for you, but do you think you can at least start being a little nicer to me? At least until the show is over."

"Of course," Paulina grinned, reaching down for Sam's abandoned microphone and handing it to her. "We still have a lot of work to do, so come on. Let's do a full run-through of the song."

They both rehearsed the song repeatedly for twenty minutes before taking a break from singing to work out the choreography. Well, at least on Paulina's behalf. Sam had no problem with doing a small dance, but full out choreography was far out of the question for her.

She heard the auditorium doors swing open, so she automatically glanced over in that direction. However, when she saw Dash, Kwan, Danny, and Tucker walk in, her right eyebrow raised questionably. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked, mainly to Danny and Tucker.

"Dash told us to come," Danny answered, sounding just as confused as she did. "Well, Paulina told him to come here with us."

She looked to Paulina for an explanation, but the cheerleader merely smiled at her and shrugged. "Remember when we said that we were going to recruit them for our performance? Well, they're going to have to rehearse with us," she stated.

"I figured that," Sam replied, "but I thought there were more of them."

"We don't need all of them acting like hooligans in here, so we'll just stick with these four," Paulina concluded.

Sam sure was glad to hear that because she didn't want Ava or Star to be present. She always got a bad vibe from them, but from Ava especially. She didn't know what the girl's deal was, but she honestly didn't care enough to dig deeper into it.

"Now we get to sit back and watch you stink in action," Tucker quipped as he took a seat in the middle row and propped his feet up on the chair in front of him. Sam rolled her eyes at her friend and smacked him one good time on the back of his head, causing him to yelp and glare at her.

"Wrong. Now you get to get your butt up and participate in this dysfunctional showcase that you're apart of," she retorted, smiling oh-so-sweetly at him. He grumbled, but stood and fixed his beret, which had shifted from the impact of the smack.

Danny joined her side, laughing a little at their exchange. "Think you can go ten minutes without hitting him?" he challenged, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know," she admitted, smiling. "That urge is definitely lingering."

Dash made his way over to Paulina and slammed his fist into his palm. "Let's get this crap-fest over with. I have to go wash my car." He smirked flirtatiously and leaned in towards her, his eyebrows bouncing. "That's right, I said it. My car. I have a car."

"And I'm sure I have a cookie in my bag. Do you want it?" she asked, scowling lightly at him. "Anyway, you're right about getting this over with, so let's just get started." She then pointed at Danny and Tucker. "You two come on the stage with me."

After sharing an equivalent look of curiosity, both boys obeyed while Kwan and Dash awkwardly moved to Sam's side. She couldn't help but ask, "They're not standing with me?" Paulina shook her head. "Why not?"

"Because I thought we could have the jocks stand with you and... these two stand with me," Paulina answered, and Sam noticed that she avoided calling them geeks this time. "Unless you want to swap one of them out?"

"Dibs on the stage!" Tucker claimed, quickly raising his hand up. Danny snorted and switched spots with Kwan, who made his way onto the stage. Now, he and Tucker were by Paulina's side and Danny and Dash were by Sam's.

"Let's walk through this," Paulina suggested. "We'll start with your part since you're the one opening up the performance." She glanced up at the control booth, where Mikey and Nathan were patiently waiting for her to give them the cue to start up the music. After she did so, they immediately played the instrumental.

Sam chose not to sing, more so out of nervousness than anything. Instead, she raised the microphone to her mouth and neutrally hummed along to the music. She wasn't used to performing, especially not in front of Danny and Tucker, so she was feeling a little bit timid.

Paulina must've caught onto her nervousness because she ordered Nathan to cut the music. "Discomfort isn't allowed in here," she announced, pretending that she was speaking in general, but Sam was certain she was indirectly addressing her. "Step out of your comfort zone because no one's judging anyone."

She discreetly smiled and flashed Paulina a thumbs up. The instrumental started over, so she waited for her moment to enter the song. She still didn't sing, opting to just hum through her verse, but she did loosen up as far as body movements.

She slowly made her way down the aisle with Danny and Dash on either side of her, following her like two lost bodyguards. Dash began flexing his muscles, but Danny just awkwardly walked beside her because he wasn't really sure what to do.

After her opening verse drew to an end, she stopped in her tracks and silenced her humming. "I'm not really going to do anything fancy for the opening because I'm just... opening, but during my verse, I'll improvise something," she explained to Paulina, who nodded.

She watched as the Latina proceeded to steal the show, or the rehearsal. She was confidently striding across the stage with her hips swinging and her gorgeous long hair bouncing against her back. Kwan and Tucker were much better hype-men to her than Dash and Danny were to Sam, though Dash and Kwan seemed to be competing with each other.

When it was Sam's time to shine again for the second verse, she actually decided to sing instead of hum. The beat had already dropped at the start of Paulina's verse, so she was deeply feeling the music. After positioning the microphone at a distance from her lips, she inhaled and began to sing.

Despite her nerves being somewhat mild, her voice came out smooth and natural. She couldn't hear anyone's reaction because the loud music drowned out their voices. She managed to catch a glimpse of Tucker, however: his mouth was agape.

She avoided looking over at Danny for his reaction and continued pushing herself forward, carrying the tune like she was born to do it. The more she sang, the more her anxiety subsided. She wasn't sweeping around the auditorium and dancing her ass off like Paulina was doing, but her newfound confidence was evident.

Paulina took over after Sam's verse was finished. Sam felt a hand touch her shoulder, and when she turned her head, she saw Danny staring incredulously at her. He said something to her, but because it was so loud in there, she didn't catch a word. However, she was able to guess what he said after he broke out into a surprised grin.

That action alone gave her the extra boost of confidence that she needed.

When the last chorus of the song began, meaning that she and Paulina were supposed to sing together, she decided to be risky. She, Danny, and Dash moved to the stage with everyone else and merged together the way they said they would.

She let Paulina sing the last few lines, but somewhere in between, she moved her hand to her chest, closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and then belted out the longest, strongest note she could muster. She was shocked because she never attempted something like that before, so she was afraid to try it again.

She expected Paulina to be fuming, but to her great surprise, the cheerleader grinned at her and continued singing. The two stood before each other, finishing up the chorus together until they reached the outro of the song. Instead of letting the other person have it, they shared it and blended their voices together for a beautiful finale.

Once they were both finished and the music stopped, they lowered their microphones and grinned proudly when everyone around them started cheering and applauding. Sam felt her face grow hot and knew she was blushing, so she turned her head and looked away, retaining her broad smile.

"Okay," Danny started, approaching her along with Tucker, "where the hell did _that_ voice come from?"

"I thought you said you weren't that good of a singer!" Tucker joined in, the pitch of his voice rising slightly.

She couldn't contain her laughter as she listened to the pair pretty much scold her for 'keeping something like that a secret from them'. At one point, she tore her attention away from them and looked towards Paulina, only to see the girl smiling proudly at her.

For some reason, she found herself returning that same smile.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

**(Wednesday: after school in the auditorium)**

Paulina locked her wrists behind her back and slowly paced down the aisle of the auditorium. "So, the show is in two days and we barely have our choreography together," she pointed out. She stopped pacing and stood still, turning to stare at Dash, Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Kwan. "Any suggestions?"

Crickets.

She rolled her eyes with an irritated sigh. "Fine. I'll just improvise." She pointed to Sam. "You. Up," she ordered lightly. The Goth, who was slouched in a seat with her arms crossed, reluctantly stood up after pausing for three seconds. "We're starting with your part."

"Great. I love wearing myself out for no reason," she muttered sarcastically. Since she was already holding her microphone, she just moved out into the aisle and waited for the music to start. When it did, she began lazily singing along, prompting Paulina to call for a halt in the song.

"What the heck is that? Where's the energy?" she demanded. "You weren't singing like that yesterday."

"I just don't see why I need to strain my voice during rehearsals when I can go full-out during the show," Sam answered truthfully.

Paulina's head tipped to the side and her brows dropped. "Because it's good to practice so you know what you're doing at the show. Besides, you're not going to be straining your voice. Just don't go all Beyoncé on us again and you'll be fine."

Sam couldn't help but laugh at that. "Okay, okay. Nothing special," she promised. Paulina rolled her eyes and smiled a little before turning towards the control booth. Before she could flash a signal to Nathan that let him know to start the music, the auditorium doors opened and all eyes turned in that direction.

Ava and Star walked in, much to everyone's confusion. Paulina frowned and started to approach them. "What are you guys still doing here? she asked. "School ended awhile ago."

"We wanted to watch you one time in rehearsals before the show," Star answered, smiling slightly. "It was Ava's idea."

"Was it, now?" Paulina countered, feigning a cheerful tone as she looked over at Ava. She knew the girl was just being messy and actually wanted a glimpse at the calm before the storm on Friday. This was confirmed when she smirked at Paulina and took a seat with Star next to Kwan and Dash.

"Just continue on like we're not here," she said, leaning back in her chair and fixating her gaze on Paulina, who glanced over at Sam for her reaction. The Goth didn't really seem to care, so she just signaled for Nathan to start the track over.

She wanted to kick Ava out of the auditorium for being in the way and she was going to, but then she remembered that the girl thought Sam couldn't sing. She was only there to see her flop and laugh at her. Paulina thought it would be funny to see her reaction, so she allowed her and Star to stay and watch.

Once the music started, Sam raised the microphone at a distance and began singing softly. She still wasn't trying as hard as the day before, but there was more energy involved. She even opened up the song with the same falsetto note, and it took everything in Paulina to avoid laughing out loud when she saw Ava's stunned expression.

"See? That was much better," Paulina remarked, clapping slightly. Sam blushed and looked away with a small shrug while Ava snorted.

"How? She sounded pitchy," she commented, causing Sam to lightly glare at her. Paulina knew Ava was just trying to be petty and that she didn't actually mean that, so she didn't intervene and just rolled her eyes.

"I thought she was pretty good," Dash remarked. Danny, Kwan, and Tucker nodded in agreement, but Star scowled at Kwan and made him glance away fearfully.

"Then maybe you need to get your hearing adjusted," Ava retorted.

Sam frowned, but then she smiled and held out the microphone towards Ava. "Think you can top what I just did?" she challenged. Paulina watched their exchange, with Ava looking almost fearful and Sam looking smug. When Ava scoffed and turned away, Sam said, "Oh. Okay then."

Dash whistled, smirking with amusement as he watched the tension between the pair increase. Paulina pretended not to notice it and continued on with the performance, singing but not dancing around the way that she usually did.

After their practice performance ended, Sam sat down on the floor of the aisle and looked up at Danny. "You know, you guys oughta be practicing as well," she told him. "What are you going to do on Friday?"

"Stand there and look pretty," Dash answered, flexing his biceps with a confident grin.

"Too bad not everyone can do that. Right, Manson?" Ava asked rudely, her right eyebrow rising high. Dash and Kwan made an obnoxious noise of surprise, but only to instigate and fuel the situation even more. Sam didn't appear too bothered and just flicked her hand out dismissively.

"Nobody asked for your opinion," she replied coolly.

"Well, you still needed to be told," Ava countered. "If I were you, which I'm glad I'm not, I'd watch that tone because I can really hurt you."

Sam snorted. "Go ahead and try." When she saw Ava get up, she got up as well, but that's when Paulina, Danny, Tucker, and Star decided to intervene. Paulina knew that if she didn't break them up now, then one of them would end up on the floor with a bloody nose.

And after fighting Sam, she could confidently say that the Goth wouldn't be that person.

"Break it up, break it up," she groaned, stepping in between the pair and holding out her arms to prevent them from moving closer to each other. Ava's glare was powerful enough to burn a hole into Sam's face, but she was forced to look away when Paulina grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the far side of the auditorium.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Paulina demanded, glaring right into her eyes. "I'm not going to get suspended because of you and you're not getting Manson suspended either! Stop trying to sabotage my performance."

"I couldn't give three shits about your performance enough to want to sabotage it," she growled. "My problem with you is that you keep kissing this loser's ass just because she can sing. What about our scheme?"

"I don't care about the scheme, Ava. If you want to see her crash and burn, do it by yourself."

"No, no. See, that wasn't part of the plan. We agreed on sabotage," Ava reminded her, pointing in her face. "So, to compensate for that, I might be willing to sabotage your newfound friendship with her by telling her all about the scheme you planned with me. You're only friends with her to get back at her for the fight. Don't forget that."

Paulina leered darkly at her. "Are you blackmailing me?"

"Maybe. That depends on what you do Friday. All I'm saying is that if you aren't going through with the scheme, tell her that we planned one against her. Otherwise, I will." And with that, Ava turned on her heels and marched away.

Paulina stood there for half a minute, fuming. After Ava was fully gone, she turned around and stomped back into the auditorium. She was done being friends with Ava; the girl was simply overbearing and annoying. That, and she was practically blackmailing her into humiliating Sam in front of the whole school.

Well, to be fair, she did agree to that scheme, but she didn't expect to warm up to the Goth the way that she did. She didn't want revenge against her anymore, even if she did lose a fight to her in front of the entire school.

She was over all the catty drama, but most importantly, she was over Ava.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

**(Thursday: morning before the show)**

**Sam Finds Out**

* * *

It was almost performance day.

Sam knew her performance with Paulina was going to be a breeze, but she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Principal Ishiyama, her parents, half the school, and Danny and Tucker were going to be present. They were kicked out of the performance last minute by Paulina along with Dash and Kwan.

The cheerleader decided that she only wanted to perform with Sam, so that's the idea they both agreed on. Performing in rehearsals with a single person was one thing, but performing for real in front of a bunch of people was a whole different one.

All of the participants were called down to the auditorium immediately after first period to discuss the rules and expectations for the show. Sam felt crowded; she was surrounded by a sea of unfamiliar faces, all except for Paulina, who was chatting it up with someone she had never seen before.

Though they were somewhat on good terms with each other now, she still wasn't comfortable with the idea of strolling over there and starting up a casual conversation with her. It just wasn't going to happen. Her pride was way too high for that, so she sat in the back of the auditorium and kept to herself.

The rules of the talent show were pretty simple: no acts exceeding three minutes, each student could only perform once, songs had to be appropriate, and every performer had to provide their own props for the show. The judges were present during the meeting, announcing that they were only accepting 20 acts and that everyone else would be cut from the show.

Auditions began right after that.

Sam was caught off guard because she didn't know that she had to audition to get into the show, but Paulina obviously did because her facial expression remained nonchalant. She was hoping that auditioning would help her nerves subside enough for the actual show.

After everyone filled out their talent show entry forms and turned them in, two of the teachers in the auditorium escorted everyone out into the hallway. The judges would be calling performers in one at a time to audition, so before that happened, they were all allowed to rehearse their act as they waited in the hallway.

Sam noted different acts; some people did karate, someone did a pogo-stick routine, another person was doing a card trick, and a good majority of everyone else was doing a singing or a dancing routine. They all looked so good that she began wondering if she and Paulina would even make the cut.

Speaking of Paulina, she spotted the cheerleader chatting with Star and Dash a few feet away from her. Next to them stood Ava, who didn't look engaged in the conversation. As per usual, she had an attitude and was ignoring someone in that group.

Sam guessed it was Paulina.

Ava turned her head in Sam's direction about half a minute later, and once she caught her eye, she flashed the Goth a glare so deadly that she would've looked away if the expression actually intimidated her. It didn't, so she waited until Ava tore her gaze away first before finally looking away.

Two females were called into the auditorium about a minute later. They eagerly got up and made a beeline for the doors, entering without hesitation. The door was shut then, and about two minutes later, Sam heard music coming from the inside that told her the girls were now performing.

She was glad that there weren't too many people performing, which meant that she didn't have to completely miss all of her classes. She waited and waited as more people went in and out of the auditorium, some looking excited afterwards and some looking distraught.

Finally, she and Paulina were called into the auditorium. She wasted no time in getting up and shuffling over to the double doors. The judges weren't anyone she knew personally or had ever seen before, so she wasn't too anxious about getting on the stage and performing in front of them.

That didn't mean she wanted to do it though.

Right before she stepped into the auditorium, Paulina touched her shoulder, making her turn around curiously. "Remember, they're looking for audience engagement and confidence," the Latina reminded her, moving her hand away. "They can smell fear for some reason."

"I'm not scared," Sam insisted, rolling her eyes and continuing forward. Paulina followed behind her, and together, they made their way onto the stage. The three judges from earlier were sitting in their seats, staring at the girls as they moved onto the stage.

"Hi, you two," one of the judges, a young woman, greeted politely. Paulina grinned and waved respectfully at her while Sam just smiled slightly. "What are your names?"

"Paulina Sanchez," Paulina answered.

"Sam," Sam replied. She saw one of the judges mark down something on two sheets of paper before looking back up at her. She could automatically tell that he was the more strict and judgmental one within the trio.

"And what will you lovely ladies be offering us today?" the woman asked, her kind smile never fading.

Paulina smoothed down her hair with a confident smirk. "We'll be singing for you guys today," she responded. The woman's eyebrows raised and she looked genuinely interested. "It's a song we wrote by ourselves."

"Then by all means, take us away," the second judge, another woman, said with a broad smile. Paulina pulled out her phone from her pocket and plugged it into a nearby speaker. Sam walked up to a microphone stand, but didn't grab the microphone that was placed there.

She didn't see the reason why she had to dance all around the stage and be extra for an audition if she wasn't entering as a dancer. She was supposed to be singing, so she was going to stand there and sing. Paulina could do whatever she wanted to do; that was up to her.

After the music started, she began singing on her cue. She put in the same amount of energy that she did the first day of rehearsals so that she had a better chance at making the cut. When her verse was finished, Paulina took over, but something was different about her.

She was noticeably more energetic than usual. She walked right over to Sam and slung her arm around her shoulders while continuing to sing. Sam was a little caught off guard by that, but she didn't show it and just kept performing.

It wasn't until Paulina discreetly whispered, "They want engagement," in her ear as she passed by that she realized that the judges were looking for some form of interaction between them. That meant she had to force herself to look as buddy-buddy with Paulina as possible.

"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered, so quietly that no one caught it. She and Paulina were on good terms now, but that didn't mean she was going to be the girl's best friend. She could pretend, however, for the sake of making the cut, so that's just what she did.

She turned to the side so that she was facing Paulina and then she sang into the microphone. Paulina did the same, so it looked like they were singing to each other. They kept that up until the end of the song, after which they proceeded to take a bow.

The judges all wore unreadable expressions, confusing both Sam and Paulina. They turned away and huddled together, murmuring to each other for about a minute before facing them again. None of them spoke for a few seconds until the first woman broke through the silence.

"Congrats. We'll be seeing you two here tomorrow night," she said, smiling brightly. Paulina squealed and clapped her hands together while Sam merely smirked. She certainly felt much more excited than she looked; she was in a great mood.

"They really liked the finale part. Nice job with the whole microphone turning thing," Paulina remarked as they started to walk over to the exit. "We should wing our performance like that more often. Natural really does look better."

She flashed Sam a quick smile before walking back over to Ava, Dash, and Star. The people who survived cuts were supposed to wait in the hallway until everyone was finished, so she didn't go far. Sam sat down in her same spot by the water fountain, smiling a bit.

* * *

After auditions wrapped up for the day and all of the talent show discussions were over, Sam made her way over to her locker. The school day was done; she didn't have to go to practice and she didn't have to go to detention. Finally, she could go straight home.

As she placed some things into her locker, her gaze drifted to the left and a few lockers down, where Ava was doing the same thing that she was doing. She knew that now was the chance to ask her one on one what her problem was towards her.

Almost reluctantly, she closed her locker door and made her way over to the girl. Ava didn't notice her approaching at first, but once she did, she rolled her eyes and forcefully stuffed something into her locker. "Get away from my locker. You're losering it up," she said.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that was harsh. Did I do something to you?" she asked.

"We were never friends, freak. I don't owe you any respect." Ava slammed her locker door shut and turned to face Sam with a dark expression on her face. "Stop acting surprised and just cut to the chase. Why are you here?"

"For your information, that was the reason why I came over here," Sam told her, shaking her head in disbelief. "I wanted to know what I did that made you hate me so badly, but now I'm seeing that it points to you being jealous about Paulina warming up to me."

Ava snorted and crossed her arms. "Please. You think I'm worried about that?" she asked, and Sam shrugged in response. "She doesn't even seriously like you. She's only pretending to be your friend so that she can get closer to Danny."

Sam blinked. "Okay, I'm not following you."

"It was a scheme she came up with. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. That's the only reason she was being nice to you. She wanted you to feel like you guys were close so it would hurt you more when she kissed Danny in front of the whole school at the talent show. That's why she wanted him in the performance."

Ava clicked her tongue and continued her explanation. "She wanted to get back at you for humiliating her in that fight on Tuesday. What, did you honestly think she just magically had a change of heart? Hello? She's Paulina freaking Sanchez. Master manipulator." She then started to walk away. "C'mon. Even I know you're smarter than that."

Sam simply stood there for about two minutes, fuming to herself before stalking out of the building. She couldn't catch up with Paulina to confront her because the cheerleader had already left the premises, but one thing Sam knew was that she was definitely going to hear her mouth tomorrow.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

**(Friday morning at school)**

It was finally performance day and Paulina was nothing but excited to get on that stage in front of everyone. Her inner happiness must've shined through and affected her physical appearance as well because ever since she stepped foot into school, she had been receiving compliments nonstop.

Apparently, word had gotten out that she was performing in the talent show, so everyone who complimented her also wished her luck. She truly couldn't wait; she already had her outfit and her hairstyle all planned out for that night.

She was going to wear a silver sparkly sequin dress with her favorite silver earrings to match. Her hair was going to be curled and her makeup was going to be cute. She hadn't yet asked Sam what she was planning on wearing, as she strangely didn't see the girl around school yet.

Well, she wasn't present during their first period class, as she was hanging out with the school's drama teacher, so that's probably why she didn't see Sam. She figured she'd just catch her tonight in the dressing room of the auditorium right before their performance started.

She ended up running into Sam at lunch. She was at the salad bar, choosing a salad to eat. Paulina was heading to the vending machine to get a drink while that was happening. In doing so, she and Sam crossed paths. When they made eye contact, she waved politely, but to her great surprise, the Goth glared at her before looking away.

That was weird.

Sure, they weren't best friends, but Paulina didn't think she did anything to deserve a glare from her. They were cool just the day before, so for Sam to be upset at her for whatever reason was a little ridiculous considering the fact that they were on good terms when they last saw each other.

She merely brushed it off, assuming that Sam was either glaring at someone behind her or that she was pissed at Danny and Tucker and didn't feel like being friendly with anyone. That second thought quickly dissipated when she saw the girl sit down with them, smiling and looking a little more jovial.

Still, she didn't think too much about it and got her drink, retreating back to the center lunch table where most of her friends were sitting. Dash and Kwan were hand wrestling while Star watched from the side with boredom. Ava was missing from the table, which was unusual because Paulina saw her in the girls locker room earlier.

"Are you ready for tonight?" Star asked with an excited smile. Paulina glanced over at her, returning the smile but not a response. "You're going to rock out the place and I can't wait to see that!"

Paulina wasn't sure if Star was excited to see her perform or to see her carry out the scheme, but either way, she kept smiling appreciatively. Dash and Kwan finally stopped hand wrestling, most likely because Dash lost.

"You kinda already spoiled your performance for us, but I still know you're going to do great," Kwan remarked. "If you get stage fright, just imagine that everyone's naked."

"That doesn't help, Kwan. Like, at all," Star informed him, and he frowned. "Besides, she doesn't get stage fright. She's performed numerous times. She practically owns the stage at this point."

Paulina smirked; that was true.

The rest of the day went by smoothly, with her passing her Math test and getting assigned with Star for a class project. She saw all of her friends and kept receiving more compliments as well as good wishes.

When the school day wrapped up, she made her way down the corridor and was about to exit the building when she spotted Sam. She was standing near a row of lockers with Danny, who was going through his locker. She noticeably looked like she was in a much better mood than earlier.

"Hey. So, are you ready for tonight?" Paulina asked once she approached the couple. Sam's expression immediately darkened and she looked away, glaring. Now Paulina was certain that she was the one being glared at earlier. "Uh. Did I miss something?"

Danny's attention shifted from his locker and onto Sam, staring at her curiously. She sighed and held up a finger at him. "Can you... can you give us a minute?" she asked. Hesitantly, he nodded, but the curious look didn't fade from his face.

He shut his locker and awkwardly slipped past them after informing Sam that he'd meet her outside. She smiled, but once he left, it disappeared and she started glaring again. "So, is there anything you want to tell me?" she asked Paulina, who shook her head. "Really? Nothing pertaining to a plot, a scheme out of revenge, maybe?"

That's when Paulina felt her heart drop to her stomach. Ava was the only person who ran through her head at that moment. She's the only one who could've told Sam that because Star didn't care about the situation as much as she did.

She felt angry and betrayed, but she figured it would be best to just stay silent because she knew her panicked expression gave her away. "So it's true, then?" Sam asked, scoffing in disbelief.

With a deep sigh, Paulina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay. It is true, but I—"

"Wow," Sam drawled, laughing dryly. "Okay. I guess it was stupid of me to think that you'd actually want to be my friend. You really put yourself through all of this just so you could kiss Danny in front of the whole school to get back at me? So all that crap you said about wanting to be a better person and wanting to squash our drama was a lie?"

"No, it wasn't. Well, at first it was," Paulina backpedaled. "You have to understand that I was just angry at you and was acting out because of that anger."

Sam said nothing for a few seconds and simply turned her gaze away. "When were you even going to tell me about this? It's Friday. The show is in a few hours and you never mentioned anything pertaining to a scheme. Your best friend told me about it first and she hates me the most."

It was now Paulina's turn to glare at her. "She's not my best friend, but how was I supposed to tell you about this?"

"I don't know, but it would've been nice to hear it from you first before Ava."

"Well, I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, but that wasn't something I could've just confessed to you out of the blue. Plus, that was all Ava's plan."

"But you still went along with it, even though you knew it was wrong," Sam pointed out. "You looked me in my eyes, smiled in my face, and lied to me. You had me fooled. You made me think that you actually wanted to be my friend."

Paulina slowly shook her head. "We weren't even friends when I presented that to you. I had a change of heart towards the scheme and wasn't going to carry it out."

"Yeah, but how do I know that? It's so hard to believe you now." Sam raised her hand to her forehead and inhaled deeply. "You didn't have a change of heart. You just got caught red-handed and now you're trying to find a way out of it. Well, find a way to perform without me tonight because I quit."

She harshly brushed past Paulina after that and stormed out of the building. Paulina didn't know how to react and just stood there in shock for a few minutes before spinning on her heels. As she stomped down the hallway, she had only one person on her mind.

Ava.

She found the girl chilling outside of the cafeteria with some boy. Upon seeing her approaching in a fury, Ava straightened up and started to look a bit fearful. Paulina marched right up to her and glared into her eyes, knowing she looked intimidating enough.

"Why the hell would you rat me out like that?" she demanded angrily, pointing her finger in her face. "A-listers don't snitch on each other, especially not to the enemy. Well, to your enemy. You're definitely out of the club."

Ava looked hurt for a split second before snorting coldly. "Hey, don't huff, puff and blow my house down over this. You're the one acting like Manson's your friend or something. I just did you a favor because 'friends' don't keep secrets from each other. Right?"

Paulina felt her hand shake because she badly wanted to slap this girl. She thought about doing so for a few seconds, but then she decided against it. Slapping her wouldn't fix anything; it would just leave a nasty print on her cheek.

Instead, she did something she never thought she'd ever do, which was be the bigger person and walk away. Yep; she turned right over her shoulder and walked away from Ava, not glancing back at her once.

Not even when she begged for her to come back.

She didn't know what she was going to do about the performance because Sam told her that she quit. It was so last minute that she wasn't prepared. She wasn't even going to be allowed to perform now because Principal Ishiyama was going to just kick her off of the stage if she got on without Sam.

When she got home, she stressed about it until it was time to get ready for the show. She curled her hair the way she planned to and put on her outfit after pampering herself. She made sure her makeup was on point and that she looked amazing before leaving her house and going back to school.

She half-expected to see Sam backstage, but the Goth was nowhere in sight. This disappointed her to the point where she thought about leaving, but she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe, just maybe Sam would show up.

* * *

Sam stretched and rolled over in bed, glancing over at her clock. It was quarter to six and the talent show started at seven. She knew Paulina was there at the school, waiting for her, but she didn't feel like going anymore.

Well, somewhat.

She closed her eyes sleepily and tried to fall asleep, but then she felt that familiar chill she always felt when Danny was near. Without cracking an eyelid open, she said, "I know why you're here, Danny boy, and quite frankly, I don't care to hear it."

There was a swift, bright flash of light and then she felt sudden pressure on her back. "Well, I'm still going to voice it," Danny retorted. She opened her eyes and glanced sideways at him, snorting when she noticed him sitting on her back. "You should be at school right now."

"No, I should be asleep right now, but there's a certain Halfa who's preventing that from happening," Sam countered. He moved off of her back and sat down beside her, staring at her with penetrating eyes. She sighed and sat upright. "Why should I perform with her after she pulled something like that?"

"Technically, she didn't pull anything yet, and she's not going to because I'm not getting on that stage," Danny told her. "Sam, your voice is incredible. This is your opportunity to show it off. It doesn't deserve to be a secret."

Sam frowned and scratched her head. "But, Paulina—"

"Is probably back at the school, wandering around and looking for you to apologize," Danny finished, smiling confidently. "Don't let her ruin your moment. This happened to you for a reason. This is a sign from the universe that you deserve to be up on that stage."

"Wow. You and all your astronomy talk," Sam grumbled, returning the smile playfully towards him. "If this backfires, I get to hold you accountable."

"If this backfires, Tucker will eat nothing but salad with you for a week," he promised. She laughed softly and swung her legs over the bed and planted her feet on the floor. He got up from the bed, falling serious once more. "Don't do it for her. Do it for yourself."

She looked down to the ground before lifting her head back up and nodding. "Okay," she agreed. Danny brushed his fingers against her cheek as he transformed back into his ghostly half. She nicely leaned away, as his hand was now too cold.

"I'll be waiting for you on the roof," he informed her. After she nodded again, he phased up through the ceiling and disappeared. She stood there for a full minute before sweeping her eyes in the direction of her closet, where her performance outfit stood out on a hanger.

"Well," she said to herself, "here goes nothing."

* * *

Paulina was tempted to bite her nails at that point. It was almost time for her and Sam's performance, but the Goth was nowhere to be found. Three acts had already performed, so she was certain that they were somewhere up next. As each minute passed by, her hope for Sam's arrival shrank more and more.

An adult walked up to her and told her that they were up next. The act that was on stage was wrapping up their performance, so that's when Paulina sighed sadly and prepared to leave. She didn't want to be present to witness everyone booing when she didn't show up on stage.

The guy on stage bowed and the audience applauded, but Sam was still nowhere to be found.

Until Paulina turned around.

There she was, wearing a beautiful lace corset: the top part of it was red and the bottom part was black. She wore new black combat boots and a black choker to accessorize. Her hair, which was usually in a ponytail, was now down and fell around her shoulders.

"Okay, I know I tease you all the time for being Goth, but you look amazing right now," Paulina remarked. She then smiled a little and twirled around. "Definitely not better than me, but..."

"Don't push it," Sam replied, but she couldn't stop herself from smiling too. "Sorry I'm late. I was getting my mic put on."

Paulina's smile fell after a few seconds of silence and she looked like she was going to say something else because she opened her mouth, but then the same adult from earlier rushed up to them.

"You're both on right now. The narrator is speaking to the audience to give you guys enough time to get on stage," he informed them before rushing away. They glanced at each other nervously before smiling and making their way onto the stage.

Sam didn't go out into the aisle the way she rehearsed, but instead, she sat on the stage and prepared for the curtains to open. Paulina chose to wait off stage, wanting to just slide onto it when it was her turn to sing.

Once the curtains opened, the crowd immediately began cheering and applauding. That must've gave Sam a confidence boost because when the music started, the first note she hit was the same falsetto one from her rehearsals, earning her more cheers and applause.

She closed her eyes and sang from her heart, moving a hand to her chest. As her verse drew to a close, she slowly rose up from the stage and held her hand out, belting out the most beautiful high note she could muster.

And then Paulina swooped in.

She stepped out onto the stage, grinning when she, too, heard the crowd erupt into cheers and claps. She was so confident in herself that she didn't even feel upset about Sam's voice outshining hers. She herself was always in the spotlight, so she was okay with this girl being in the spotlight for once.

After she finished the chorus, Sam chimed in and sang her second verse. She started walking down the steps leading to the aisle of the auditorium, so Paulina did the same, going down the opposite side. Since she wasn't singing yet, she twirled around and started prancing through the aisles.

When the chorus came up again, both girls met each other in the center of the auditorium and sang that part together. For once, it didn't feel like a competition to see who was the better singer. Instead of trying to upstage each other, they shared the spotlight together and had a great time doing so.

Paulina started dancing along to the music, but she was only doing small, simple movements. To her great surprise, Sam mimicked her actions. After laughing with each other because of that, they faced each other, preparing for the finale.

They sang the last line of their song together, holding the note and stretching it out beautifully before ending. The audience applauded them and started whistling immediately after they posed. They broke their position a few seconds later and waved at everyone, grinning almost triumphantly.

One person who specifically stood out in the front row was Principal Ishiyama, who was standing and clapping with a huge smile on her face. "Great job, ladies!" she exclaimed through the noise of the audience, flashing the pair a thumbs up.

They thanked her with a nod before glancing at each other with growing smiles. "Sorry about earlier," Paulina said into her ear. "I should've never agreed to that scheme. As you can see, I didn't go through with it. I wasn't going to. Anything I can do to make it up?"

Sam turned around and motioned for Paulina to follow her backstage, as the curtains were closing and the next act had to perform in a minute. "Well, you didn't do it, so I can't stay mad about it. However, if you want to make up for it, I wouldn't say no to a veggie burger at the Nasty Burger after the show ends."


End file.
